A Blackbird Blowing ‘Smoke’ Rings Wins Top Prize at the 2019 Audubon Photography Awards

Like homo , birds catch one’s breath . And on a frigid day , the moisture from their breath condenses into steam that emanates from their beak . PhotographerKathrin Swobodaknew this , and was hoping to capture it on film at the car park near her house .

The metal calls of red - fly blackbirds can be heard at marshes , shores , grassland , and roadside all over the United States . Unlike many other colorful bird species , red - fly blackbirds often cling around the same arena in the wintertime .

Swoboda arrived at the wetlands of Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria , Virginia early in the morning on Saint Patrick ’s Day this year , hoping to shoot the birds blowing “ smoke ” ring as they blazon out out to defend their territory . She was able-bodied to get the male razz singing in the morning sunshine , which alight up the vapor that mould little rings from his beak .

Whoa.

Whoa.Photo: Kathrin Swoboda (Audobon Photography Awards)

“ Every spring I go there and endeavor to get a shot with the backlit evaporation come out of their mouth when they tattle , ” Swoboda told Gizmodo . “ It was on my long listing of goal to try and conquer that in the spring . ”

The photo netted Swoboda the Grand Prize for this year ’s 2019 Audubon Photography Awards .

This year is the tenth day of remembrance of the prize , which showcase the the best bird picture taking from amateurs and pro , including photographers under the age of 18 ( Disclosure : I have previously written for Audubon ) . This twelvemonth , the Audubon Society also added a Plants for Birds Prize , to spotlight the relationship between birds and native plant , and the Fisher Prize , to highlight photograph with especially creative composition .

Photo: Kathrin Swoboda

Red-winged blackbird blowing vapor rings. Taken with a Nikon D500 with Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens; 1/800 second at f/6.3; ISO 2500Photo: Kathrin Swoboda (Audubon Photography Awards)

These photos were selected from 2,253 entrant and were judged by a panel of photographers , bird experts , and conservationist . Also , from a photography standpoint , I ’ll remark that some of the win photos were taken with consumer - grade or mid - range camera torso and lenses — a will to the fact that photography is typically more about technical ability and being in the right place at the right metre than it is about fancy equipment .

Grand Prize Winner: Red-Winged Blackbird

Professional Winner: Greater Sage-Grouse

Elizabeth Boehm caught these outstanding salvia - grouse fighting on their lek in Pinedale , Wyoming . Leks are traditional gathering evidence where male protect overlap territories , and put on their honorable audiovisual shows while females follow and pick the snort they find most attractive . Fights naturally ensue as males endeavor to expose on the honorable habitat .

smashing sage - grouses populate among the sagebrush in the pot - western United States and some of southern Canada . They ’re the large grouse , and male person display using a pair of weeping sac they inflate with atmosphere . They ’re discern as a threatened mintage due to habitat personnel casualty .

Professional Honorable Mention: Bald Eagle and a Red Fox

bald-pated eagles will eat any nub they can , typically fish but also roadside carrion or , uncommonly , pet cats . Kevin Ebi snapped this photo at San Juan Island National Historical Park in Washington State . He was there photographing Fox when an eagle swoop in to steal the fox ’s dinner , snagging the fox as well . The fox eventually dropped back to the dry land , unharmed .

Amateur Winner: White-Necked Jacobin

Mariam Kamal photographed this white - necked jacobin sipping nectar from heliconias on a windy day in Sarapiqui , Costa Rica . White - necked Jacobin can feed in a form of different habitat , and like other hummingbird , have farseeing bills and tongues specialise for blossom . They ’ll also snatch up pocket-size insect .

Amateur Honorable Mention: Great Blue Herons

slap-up blue herons are the with child of the North American heron and can be spotted across most of the country beside ponds , where they trace for Pisces the Fishes . Melissa Rowell caught a male and a female span in the midst of a duel as part of a pairing display in Delray Beach , Florida , as nothingness blew through their plumes .

If heron look particularly dinosaurian , that ’s mostly because , well , wench are now descended from dinosaur . But they ’re celebrated for their powerful visor , which they use to spear up at Pisces the Fishes and attract mate . They occasionally use their bills as weapon , and are cognise tostab wildlife rehabbers in the eye .

Youth Winner: Horned Puffin

Sebastian Velasquez photographed this horned puffin preening at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward , Alaska . These birds live in the Arctic around Alaska , the Aleutian Islands , and Far - Eastern Russia . They can carry schnoz - loads of fishby the dozensback to feed their new . They breed on rocky cliffs , unlike other puffins .

Youth Honorable Mention: Bobolink

Bobolinks inhabit for the grassland , where they can be find throughout the country singing their frenetic , metallic “ Robert of Lincoln ” call . Garrett Sheets spot this male alight in grass on a prairie in Lincoln Township , Missouri . These birds will stop by rice fields and ravenously banquet on grain during migration — and they have one of the longsighted migrations of any songbird , expend the wintertime in southerly South America . Like other grassland dame , the Dolichonyx oryzivorus is declining as it lose its native grassy habitat to human development .

Plants for Birds Winner: Hooded Oriole with Fan palm

hood orioles breed in the far southern and southwestern United States and parts of Mexico , where they specialize in areas with medallion trees . Michael Schulte snapped this photograph in his backyard in San Diego , where a pair of these bird frequent the fan thenar in his backyard . These birds use the palm fibre to weave pixilated , hanging nests beneath the frond .

Plants for Birds Honorable Mention: Purple Gallinule on a Fire Flag

Purple gallinules come from the family of sneaky rails and expend their days wading through marsh leafage , but will also sometimes drown and dive into the water . Joseph Przybyla caught this adult climbing up a fire flag in parliamentary procedure to eat up the prime .

You might think of the purple gallinule as America ’s prime rails ; not only is the bird beautiful , but it epitomizes many unimaginative railing traits . For representative , track are famous foroccasionally wanderingfar outside their range . Though these fowl breed in the southeast United States and winter in South America , item-by-item purple gallinules have wound up inCalifornia , Iceland , Portugal , and evenSouth Africa .

Fisher Prize Winner: Black-Browed Albatross

Ly Dang spotted this black - browed albatross in the Falkland Islands , and was wowed by its namesake contraband eyebrow . Likeother albatrosses , this bird can endure many decades and spend much of its life at sea . It breeds on islands throughout the far - Confederacy Atlantic and the south Pacific .

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Photo: Elizabeth Boehm

Greater sage-grouses. Canon EOS 6D with Canon 500mm EF f/4 L IS USM lens; 1/1500 second at f/5.6; ISO 800Photo: Elizabeth Boehm (Audubon Photography Awards)