Hang on, what are the Audubon Photography Awards?

I’d like to start by saying that I write about a lot of garbage I don’t care one bit for. Wow, Bella Hadid went topless on the cover of Vogue Magazine? Excuse me for not caring.

Maybe you won’t care about this one – at all – but the Audubon Photography Awards is the world’s premier bird photography competition.

That photo above is a Bald Eagle’s talons, and let’s have a look at a few other standouts via The Atlantic:

American Oystercatchers on Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Beach, in New York

Grand Prize Winner. Great Gray Owl in Teton County, Wyoming

The Great Gray Owl is a superb hunter. From a perch it watches with eyes larger than a human’s, listens with ears so keen it can detect prey beneath a foot of snow, and attacks silently, due to sounddampening feathers.

Youth Winner. Cobalt-winged Parakeets in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador

Cobalt-winged Parakeets inhabit the humid forests east of the Andes, from Venezuela to Bolivia. The garrulous birds consume an acidic diet of berries and fruits; it’s thought that the clay they ingest, at formations like this one on a riverbank in Yasuní, acts as a natural antacid.

Western Screech-Owl

Pyrrhuloxia on Santa Clara Ranch, McCook, Texas

Wood Duck, Baltimore

Wood Ducks are named for the fact that they nest in tree cavities. Their slim bodies allow them to slip into the narrow openings, and their large eyes help them navigate the branches as they fly through woodlands.

To finish, here’s one of a Malachite Kingfisher at Rondevlei, here in the Mother City, which didn’t feature in the Audubon Awards, but is just a lekker snap:

No, not your jam?

Fine, here’s Justin Bieber confirming his engagement to Hailey Baldwin.

If you’re one of the cool kids who finds bird photos enthralling, you can ogle the entire top 100 here.

[sources:atlantic&audubon]