Comics and Pics: 2008

Here is the other awarded photos in Wildlife Photographs of the year 2008 contest (Category: Animal Behaviours - Birds):
(To see the stories, properties and the images of overall and special awards, please follow the link: http://comicsandpics.blogspot.com/2008/11/wildlife-photographs-of-year-2008.html )

Winner: "Clash of eagles" by Antoni Kasprzak

Runner-up : "Getting stuck in" by Brian W. Matthews

Specially Commended: "Osprey snatch" by Paul Hobson

Highly Commended: "Love branch" by Andy Rouse

Highly Commended: "Sandpiper congregation" by Arthur Morris

Highly Commended: "Starling genie" by Barış Koca

Highly Commended: "Hoopoe delivery" by Ramon Navarro

Highly Commended: "Black grouse dawn show" by Bence Máté

Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Overall Winner

Steve Winter (United States of America)

Snowstorm leopard

'After 10 months and a winter with little snow in Ladakh's Hemis High Altitude National Park, India, I was running out of hope of getting the picture I wanted. But one freezing morning I checked my remote-controlled camera and found a snow leopard had triggered it the night before, in the frame I'd dreamed of – in its true element.' Snow leopards are adapted to life in the mountains of central Asia. They have long, waterproof outer fur, dense woolly under-fur and large nasal cavities that warm the air as they breathe it in. This allows them to survive temperatures as low as -40°C. But the leopards can also tolerate the heat of the Gobi Desert, where temperatures can reach 40°C.

Canon EOS Rebel XT + 10-22mm lens at 16mm; 1/200 sec at f16; ISO 100; waterproof camera box + Plexiglass tubes for flashes; Trailmaster 1550-PS remote trigger.

Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Young Overall Winner

Catriona Parfitt (United Kingdom)

The show

'As it walked slowly towards the waterhole at Hobatere Lodge in Namibia, this solitary giraffe kept looking over towards four lions on a nearby ridge. One of the lions, an ambitious young male, raced down from the ridge to chase the giraffe for some distance, watched by the assembled oryx.' Lions are the giraffe's main predators, and giraffes are particularly vulnerable to attack when lying down, drinking or feeding from the ground. Unlike females, male giraffes tend to live alone, which also makes them more open to predation.

Canon EOS 400D + Canon EF300mm f4 IS USM lens + Canon EF 1.4 extender; 1/200 sec at f5.6; ISO 100.

Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife - Runner-up

Stefano Unterthiner (Italy)

Bleak outlook

'I was in north Sulawesi, Indonesia, and didn't wash my clothes for days so I could pick up the smell of the troop and be accepted as a follower. One day, a curious young adult came and groomed me. That close, I could see every eyelid flicker, every wrinkle. With a wide-angle lens and the knowledge of what a respectful distance was, I got the portrait I wanted.' Sulawesi black-crested macaques live in groups, foraging together and communicating in grunts. Poaching and forest loss have halved the population in the past 10 years and the Sulawesi macaques are now at high risk of extinction.

Nikon D2x + Nikon 12-24mm lens; 1/100 sec at f10; ISO 250; flash.

Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife - Specially Commended

Steve Winter (United States of America)

Mountain prowl

'Choosing high-ridges to set up remote cameras was tough, especially with the altitude and the steep, difficult terrain of India's Himalayas. Part of this ridge was very narrow, so I set a camera where the cat had no choice but to walk directly in front of it, with the beautiful expanse of the mountains as a backdrop.' Snow leopards are scattered throughout the high mountains of central Asia, mostly between altitudes of 1,800 and 5,500 metres. Their short forelimbs and long hind limbs help them overcome the challenges of this mountain habitat. These beautiful cats are active mainly at dawn and dusk, hunting goats, sheep, yak and horses.

Canon EOS Rebel XT + 10-22mm lens at 13mm; 1/200 sec at f18; ISO 100; waterproof camera box + Plexiglass tubes for flashes; Trailmaster 1550-PS remote trigger.

Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife - Specially Commended

Steve Winter (United States of America)

On the big-cat trail

'Local biologists in India's Himalayas told me the cat walked through this valley, and so I searched for a location that would create the composition, regardless of whether the cat was walking toward the camera or away.' A snow leopard's thick tail can be up to a metre long. It uses it to balance while on the move over difficult terrain. When it's resting, it often wraps its tail around its face and body to keep warm. Today, the snow leopard is at crisis point, hunted as a predator of livestock, but also for its luxurious coat and its bones.

Canon EOS Rebel XT + 10-22mm lens; 1/200 sec at f16; ISO 100; waterproof camera box + Plexiglass tubes for flashes; Trailmaster 1550-PS remote trigger.

One Earth Award - Winner

David Maitland (United Kingdom)

Sacrifice

'Trading in bushmeat is illegal in Gabon, but in the capital Libreville I saw this Gabon black colobus monkey being tossed onto an open fire to strip off the fur. A cloud of acrid smoke filled the air. Then, the glossy jet-black fur caught fire, crinkled and crisped up, and fell off as dust. It was deeply upsetting.' Black colobus monkeys have a distinct, high-pitched roar and frequently call to each other, so human hunters can easily track them down. This helps to make them one of the 10 most threatened primate species in Africa. Most of the world's primates may become extinct within the next 30 years if the bushmeat trade continues at its current levels.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II; 16-35mm f2.8 lens at 16mm; 1/30 sec at f8; ISO 100.

One Earth Award - Runner-up

Ira Meyer (United States)

Window on the ice melt

'I love ice - the astounding shapes and forms it creates. When a ship I was travelling on dropped anchor off east Greenland, I had a chance to photograph the spectacular arch in this 50-metre iceberg. However, melting icebergs are very unpredictable. They can roll, implode and crumble with little warning.' Arctic sea ice cover is shrinking as temperatures in the region rise. Recent summer sea ice cover this far north has been the lowest on record and scientists have forecast ice-free summers in the Arctic sea as early as 2040.

Canon EOS 20D + Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS USM lens; 1/2000 sec at f5.6; ISO 200.

One Earth Award - Highly Commended

Piers Calvert (United Kingdom)

City descent

'I had been taking pictures since my plane started to cross the English Channel. Looking down as we circled London was like watching a scene from a movie. The vision of a city drowned in cool blue clouds, under a deep pink sky, was like getting a glimpse of a future world, lost to global warming and rising sea-levels.' A steel pyramid caps London's One Canary Wharf, the tallest building in the UK. It dominates the skyline in the capital's financial district, at times poking through the dawn fog. Fog is stratus cloud that touches the ground, dropping visibility for commuters in particularly bad mornings to less than one kilometre.

Canon EOS 5D + 24-105mm f4 lens; 1/100 sec at f4; ISO 1600.

One Earth Award - Highly Commended

Martijn de Jonge (Netherlands)

Flight-paths

'One hot August morning, I drove to a dump in Extremadura in Spain, a vital feeding station for migrants such as white storks. As the first storks flew overhead, an aircraft slashed across the azure sky. I waited for when the paths of the migrants crossed and took this shot to illustrate the contrast between human and bird migration.' White storks save energy on long migrations by riding warm columns of air, called thermals, across Europe and to their wintering grounds in Africa. Migration is synchronised and flocks can contain many thousands of birds. Along the way, the waste tips of Spain provide vital feeding grounds. If the pickings are good, some will even choose to stay in Spain for the winter.

Nikon D2x + 24-85mm lens at 85mm; 1/1000 sec at f6.3; ISO 320.