February 2025 Competition - Natural World and Wildlife

[Tim Mayo]

Our February monthly competition is now open for entries.

=== Please Included Metadata Embedded With Images Submitted ===

This Month's Theme
For this month our theme will be Natural World and Wildlife. If you need some inspiration then these winners from Sony's World Photography Awards might help.

Competition Dates
Entries start: The date that this post is published.
Entries end: February 21st at 3am Eastern Time (9am GMT)
Voting starts: February 21st at 3am Eastern Time (9am GMT)
Voting ends: February 28th at 3am Eastern Time (9am GMT)

What Do I Get if I Win?
I'm afraid it's just the joy of taking part but I will be adding badges to winners profiles.

How to Enter + Rules

1. Post your entries in this thread by scrolling down to the reply box then hitting the 'upload images' button. Insert image as full image not thumbnail.
2. Canon R Series cameras only. Adapted lenses on R Series bodies are fine.
3. Camera metadata must be included in the images to verify.
4. Only one photo entry per member.
5. Keep the photos clean and family friendly.
6. Please don't use sky replacements or AI image generation.
7. You are free to change your image during the entry period.

How to Vote (when voting opens)

1. Use the vote button (up arrow) to the right of the post (below post on mobile) to vote up images that you like
2. You can vote on as many images as you like apart from your own

Upcoming Themes for 2025
Our themes for the year have already been decided to give you a heads-up on what's coming next.

• Jan: Black & White
• Feb: Natural World and Wildlife
• Mar: Creative
• Apr: Action
• May: Mechanized Machines
• Jun: Land and City Scapes
• Jul: At Home
• August: Close Up / Macro
• Sep: Long Exposure
• Oct: Street
• Nov: After Dark
• Dec: Your Favorite Shot of 2025

Feedback
I'd really appreciate feedback about how the competition is running but please don't post it in this thread. Instead please post any feedback in our Feedback Forum.

Thank you for taking part and good luck!

 

[ctitanic]

Jean-Claude Van Damme:

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[eosdawg]

A silent farewell

 

[PKM-UK]

European Robin, Hartshill Country Park, Warwickshire, England.

(Shot raw and processed with: Adobe LrC/ PS with Tony Kuyper Panels, DxO PL Elite/ Nik Collection and Topaz Labs Photo AI. My processing workflow is detailed in another post, which can be viewed by clicking Here).

You can find out a little more about 'the Robin' by clicking Here.

Phil


What a little cutie...

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[AOC]

Eagles on Ice

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[NGauger101010]

Supper time at the lake

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[Zombo]

duck walk

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[Dave Williams]

As my hobby is wildlife photography I pondered a while as what to enter this month...a cute Puffin perhaps? Everyone loves a Puffin!
Then I thought what I'll try and convey is what it is about wildlife photography that's so addictive but sadly a photograph doesn't actually do that and unless you have experienced a similar moment then you'll not be able to share the full experience. My entry is this straight forward shot of a Kestrel and its prey.
This is no run of the mill bird though, this is a Mauritius Kestrel which not long ago was one of the most endangered species on the planet. In the 1970's there were just 4 left and if conservation teams hadn't stepped in the probability was extinction.
I have always maintained a common species doing something interesting is better than a rare species sat on a branch. This shot has an element of both!
Wife Claire and I had booked a relatively cheap package tour to the described "paradise island" of Mauritius on a whim. Somewhere different for her instead of me choosing wildlife destinations. Of course when I got there I still wanted to find some of the endemic species and the Kestrel was top of my list. We drove to a National park and walked the full length of a decent path along a mountain ridge. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw a Kestrel flying some 200-300 metres away. I got a really poor quality record shot but was at least happy I'd seen one. Several hours and almost back at the visitor centre we'd seen very little else when a bird flew across the wooded path and landed in a tree not far away.
Confirmation it was a Kestrel and my excitement was reflected in my increased heart beat!
I edged slowly forwards and managed a few shots but the bird was obscured by branches so far from ideal.
Then it flew.
My disappointment was soon changed to incredulation. The Kestrel had spotted a Lizard prey, swooped on it and came back and landed in open view. Once again I edged forwards but to my horror I could hear voices approaching.
They'd surely spook the bird.
Fortunately they spotted me and stopped in their tracks.
I was able to capture lots of images but I chose this one as it doesn't reveal the bright coloured identification rings on it's legs as it raised it's prey to despatch it.

I'd love to know if there is any other genre of photography that can deliver the same adrenaline rush as capturing something special in camera.
Sports maybe? War correspondent? The one thing that stands out about wildlife photography though is it's totally unpredictable unlike Mo Salah scoring for the mighty Liverpool FC.
Not long after I retired I was in a bird hide at a local reserve and I met a guy there who was a professional wildlife photographer specialising in movies. He's been all over the world working for the BBC and had a lot of his films included in the Life on Earth type of series. I told him he had the only job I'd come out of retirement for. His reply was that I might change my mind after laying in a ditch for two weeks waiting for a particular moment. The elation of capturing that moment was a little dimmed when the edited version was cut to a few seconds with David Attenborough getting the kudos as if he'd been there as he did the voice over!
Anyway, enough rambling but Tim did suggest we put some explanatory words along with the photos.

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[David Berry]

Early one February morning…

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Brisbane River, Queensland, Australia
About 120 km from the sea.​

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Probably, it wasn't a 'good idea' to point the lens straight at the rising sun!

What attracted me was the burnished water in the foreground. There was just sufficient movement of the air to give the surface of the river a texture like beaten brass.

I suspect that had it not been for the tall gum trees beside the river, I might have trimmed off the top of the image to remove the sun. Well, that didn't happen.

… David

 

[dgphoto8]

A photo of a great blue heron in Grassy Pond, at the Mass Audubon Ashumet Holly Wildlife Sanctuary in Falmouth, Massachusetts. I had seen the heron from another side of the pond just standing there and I walked around the pond trail to get closer. Just after I setup and started taking photos, the heron caught (really speared) a very large frog and I was able to capture an interesting and normal but not very pretty part of nature's predator-prey interactions. After the frog was dead, the heron spent a lot of time trying to flip the huge frog into the correct position to swallow it. I finally had to leave before he ate the frog in order to go to a beach to catch the moon rising over a lighthouse, so I never saw the heron eat the frog.

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[Dean Wilson]

In a small coastal town on the Oregon Coast just outside the public restroom there is a 10' x 10' section of raised concrete planter with grass amongst sidewalks, parking lots and streets. After stepping out of the restroom (yes, I washed my hands), I found a little friend having lunch.

I grabbed my camera and 100-500mm to isolate the nature from the non-nature. Low to the ground and >Click<

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[thejudge]

Mother roseate spoonbill at the nest with two babies one who has his beak down her throat hoping to make her regurgitate something to eat.

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[Hali]

From our spring trip to Yellowstone NP. A highlight was seeing the "red dogs" the baby bison. This one was about an hour old, we saw it being born!

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[MSH411]

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[RW2024]

Not the high detail, wonderful color shots I am seeing posted. But something I can’t identify keeps drawing me to this one.

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[Nick L]

Lapwings in flight at Keyhaven marshes in Hampshire UK. These two Lapwings were chasing each other round a lagoon in the marshes, I got a lock one the front bird and had enough depth of field to get them both sharp. This won the GPU Gold medal in the Midland International Salon in 2024.

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[chipman]

I posted a version of this on a biker forum, noting the damage done to the tree.
Was amused by the number of replies stating they didn't know porcupines could climb trees.

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[Kamoshika]

Wet and Wild

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[Only RF]

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[MikeZ]

A small buck I saw in my back yard. Shot through double pane window since it was TOO cold to go out.

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[Tim Mayo]

A big thanks to all who have entered our competition this month. So many amazing images! Voting is now enabled. Please remember that you can vote on as many images as you like, just not your own