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Major expeditions, numerous attempts, and strokes of luck characterize how many of the top images in the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards came to be. Francisco Castro Escobar, for example, was surprised to see a rare lesser horned owl, sometimes referred to as “the ghost of the desert,” perched on a cactus in northern Chile during a dawn hike. “The largest owl in Chile gets this nickname because seeing one is so rare that it’s like an apparition,” Escobar says. The image also took the grand prize for the Chile/Colombia contest.

Audubon Photography Awards runs two parallel opportunities, one for photographers in the U.S. and Canada and the other for those based in Chile and Colombia. This year, the grand prize for North American entrants went to Jacqueline Burke for her bold capture of a bathing roseate spoonbill illuminated against the shadowed interior of a cove in Florida. Additional prize categories include Birds Without Borders, Plants for Birds, Youth, Conservation, and others.

Rodrigo González Pairoa. Winner of the Birds Without Borders category: Black-browed albatross, Almirantazgo Fjord, Chile

The array of images capture the daily behaviors and habits of birds around the world, from hunting raptors to nectar-seeking woodpeckers. In addition to dramatic, sometimes humorous shots of avians in flight, eating, swimming, and more, we also discover some of the ways human activities put the animals at risk. Josh Galicki’s photo of nesting northern gannets in Shetland reveal how jettisoned old fishing nets have been scavenged for nests on a cliff face, but the same material poses a constant risk to the animals’ safety.

Across the board, the winning photographs illuminate the world’s immense avian diversity, from diminutive, jewel-like hummingbirds to seabirds that dive like torpedos to catch their prey. “Hours, days, or sometimes even years of patience and effort go into creating a scenario in which a photographer is in the right place, at the right time, to capture a fleeting moment,” Audubon says.

See all the winners and honorable mentions, including videos, on the contest’s website.

Jacqueline Burke. Grand prize, U.S. and Canada: Roseate spoonbill, St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, St. Augustine, Florida

Josh Galicki. Winner of the Conservation category: Northern gannets, sle of Noss, Shetland Islands, U.K.

Mike Henry. Winner of the Plants for Birds, U.S. and Canada category: Gila woodpecker and saguaro cactus, Tucson, Arizona

Juan David Camacho Márquez. Winner of the Youth category for Chile and Colombia: Canada warbler, Doña Dora Birding, El Queremal, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Timothy Dhalleine. Winner of the Birds in Landscapes, Chile category: Crested caracara, Torres del Paine National Park, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic region, Chile

Santiago Giraldo. Winner of the Plants for Birds Colombia category: Yellow-eared parrot and Quindio wax palm, Anaime, Cajamarca, Tolima

Camilo Sanabria Grajale. Honorable mention in the Youth category for Chile and Colombia: Ruby-topaz hummingbird, Guadalajara de Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

David Paredes Bravo. Honorable mention in the Plants for Birds, Colombia category: Golden-rumped euphonia and Tillandsia recurvata, Alto del Zarzo, Manizales, Department of Caldas, Colombia

Kevin Lohman. Honorable mention in the Plants for Birds, U.S. and Canada category: Brandt’s cormorant and surfgrass, Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, California

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