Bird Photographer of the Year

2025 Winners

With over 33,000 images entered into the competition this year, Bird Photographer of the Year is pleased to present our winners. Celebrating bird life from around the world, these images comprise some of the most incredible bird photos in the world taken by talented photographers, whilst also raising vital funds for our partner charity Birds on the Brink.

Taking the title of Bird Photographer of the Year, our Overall Winner is ‘The Frigatebird and the Diamond Ring’ by Liron Gertsman. The image shows a magnificent frigatebird silhouetted against the total solar eclipse.

Gertsman wins the top prize of £3,500 and the prestigious title. His image also won Gold Award in the Birds in Flight category.

“I spent well over a year of planning to capture my dream of a bird in front of the total solar eclipse,” says Gertsman. “I enlisted the help of a boat to position myself near some islets off Mazatlán that were frequented by seabirds. As the moon uncovered the sun’s edge at the end of totality, I captured this image during the eclipse phase known as the ‘diamond ring’ - a moment that lasts mere seconds.”

In this behind-the-scenes clip, we can see the very moment that Gertsman took the iconic image.

Young Bird Photographer of the Year

The Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2025 was awarded to 16-year-old Polish photographer Tomasz Michalski for his striking vulture silhouette.

Best Portfolio - Winner: Sunflower Paradise

Sponsored by OM System.

Our congratulations go to Mateusz Piesiak from Poland, who wins the Best Portfolio award this year.

“Sometimes, nature thrives in the most unexpected places. Due to unusually high water levels, a vast sunflower field was left unharvested. While this was a financial loss for the owner, it became a paradise for birds. The field, filled with high-calorie seeds, turned into a vital refuge for tens of thousands of goldfinches. I had never witnessed such a large flock of these birds gathered in one place – it was as if they had arrived from miles around, drawn by this rare and abundant food source. For hours, hidden among the towering sunflowers, I observed and photographed this remarkable scene.

My goal was to capture the essence of this ephemeral haven – not just through classic portraits, but also through environmental shots, motion-filled frames, and long-exposure images that showcase the energy and movement of the flock. The central image of this collection is a long-exposure photograph of goldfinches taking flight over the frost-covered sunflower field. A closer look reveals a second flock flying near the lens, adding an extra layer of depth to the composition. The golden hues of the birds contrast beautifully against the monochrome landscape, emphasizing the vibrancy of life in an otherwise barren winter setting.

This experience left me with an important question: could we intentionally leave similar fields untouched in different parts of Europe? In a world where biodiversity is declining rapidly, small-scale rewilding efforts like this could provide essential winter habitats for birds and other wildlife. As agricultural landscapes become more uniform and inhospitable, such projects could serve as a model for balancing human activity with the needs of nature. By sharing these images, I hope to inspire a conversation about the simple but powerful ways we can restore biodiversity – sometimes, all it takes is letting nature reclaim a space for a little while.”

Video Award - Winner

Our congratulations go to Henry Kirkwood, who wins in the Video Award. This award looks for a strong sequence of clips that create a powerful story.

Highly Commended

Best Portrait

An image that best captures the character of the subject bird and its distinctive features. We look for images that include lots of detail, captured in a classic pose or showing the animal’s features.

Gold - Steffen Foerster, Germany

Silver - Maxime Legare-Vezina, Canada

Bronze - Luca Lorenz, Germany

Highly Commended

Birds in the Environment

This category focuses on photos that best demonstrate the relationship between a bird and its habitat.

Gold - Franco Banfi, Switzerland

Silver - Levi Fitze, Switzerland

Bronze - Steffen Foerster, Germany

Highly Commended

Bird Behaviour

This category celebrates images that best depict a behaviour of a bird. This might be the lekking display of a black grouse, the courtship of a great crested grebe, or a singing robin.

Gold - Francesco Guffanti, Italy

Silver - Mateusz Piesiak, Poland

Bronze - Chen Ein-dor, Israel

Highly Commended

Birds in Flight

Celebrating avian mastery of the sky, this category focuses on birds in flight.

Gold - Liron Gertsman, Canada

Silver - Baiju Patil, India

Bronze - Tibor Litauszki, Hungary

Highly Commended

Black and White

B&W can introduce simplicity and drama into images. This category celebrates the effective use of the monochromatic style.

Gold - Jannik Jansons, Germany

Silver - Raoul Slater, Australia

Bronze - Jim Lee, Singapore

Highly Commended

Urban Birds

In an increasingly urban world, many birds are forced to live on the doorsteps of humans. This category explores the world of urban bird photography.

Gold - Alex Pansier, Netherlands

Silver - Tomáš Grim, Czech Republic

Bronze - Benoit Henrion, France

Highly Commended

Creative Perspectives

In this category, we are looking for images with an artistic focus. Some examples include minimalism, creative compositions, in-camera multiple exposures, textures and details, or high and low key images.

Gold - Philipp Egger, Italy

Silver - Andreas Hemb, Sweden

Bronze - Jim Lee, Singapore

Highly Commended

Conservation (Single Image)

This category looks for strong conservation stories shown in one image.

Gold - Sarthak Agrawal, India

Silver - Charlotte Keast, United Kingdom

Bronze - Hira Punjabi, India

Highly Commended

Conservation Award

This category looks at images that tell a story of conservation efforts or the struggle of a particular species.

Our congratulations go to Joshua Burch from the UK, who wins the Conservation Award this year for his series of images following the dedication of ‘the loon ranger’.

The Loon Ranger

“The Charleston Lake Association has been monitoring the natural history of the area for more than a century, with the origins of the group being traced back to 1890. In recent years I have become involved with their Common Loon nesting raft project and this past spring have been documenting the work of local conservationists involved in the initiative.

Dwayne Struthers, Director of Fish and Wildlife, has been monitoring loons for at least fifteen years and this year I had the pleasure of helping to document the building, installation and ultimately the use of the Common Loon nesting rafts. This year would be different though. Having visited the lake late last year I was discussing the possibility of installing cameras on the loon nesting rafts. Dwayne had mentioned that some of the nests had been predated and as a result the lake’s loon population started to decline.

This year I was able to get the cameras for the loon rafts and after some discussion Dwayne agreed that they could be installed. This enabled close-up views of the nest without causing any disturbance to the loon incubating the eggs. The plan for this year’s loon rafts was to include either a canopy or a siding for the rafts made from hemlock, which, as Dwayne explained, is not especially appetising to the local beavers and muskrats. By the end of the day we had four new loon nesting rafts plus one that we had restored from previous years. The rafts had a new design for this year. Instead of using timber, Dwayne designed a nest using plastic tubing, which meant that the rafts would fit on the boat and could be installed more quickly – unlike the timber rafts which had to be towed into place. A plastic ring of tubing was fixed to the platform to provide a higher nesting area to try and eliminate the risk of the eggs becoming cooled due to splashing waves bouncing off the rafts. Once packed with dead grass and other natural material the raft floor would be covered and hidden from view by prospecting loon pairs.

Weeks later we were down at Dwayne’s cottage with his friend Jeff who had been at the shop helping build the new loon rafts. While Dwayne was busy transporting the completed loon rafts out onto the lake, Jeff would ‘dress’ the nests and add the nesting material. At this point we also added the cameras just under the canopy over the nests, giving us a great view of the raft. With all the loon rafts installed it was now a waiting game to see whether the birds would approve of their new and improved abodes.”

15-17 years

This category celebrates the photography of those aged between 15 and 17 years old.

Gold - Tomasz Michalski, Poland

Silver - Tytus Marchewka, Poland

Bronze - Jack Hinz, Australia

12-14 years

Celebrating the photography of those aged between 12 and 14 years old.

Gold - Harry Sedin, Sweden

Silver - Lubin Godin, France

Bronze - Harry Sedin, Sweden

11 and under

Celebrating the photography of those aged 11 years old or younger.

Gold - Sasha Jumanca, Germany

Silver - Jamie Smart, United Kingdom

Bronze - Cassidy Larsen, Canada

Collection 10 is available now

Each year, we produce a high quality “coffee-table” book featuring the best images from the competition. This year is no different, with almost 300 images featured in this hardback collection.

The book features all the awarded and commended images, and is a great place to draw inspiration from for your next shoot.

Order your copy on the website.

Commended Photographers

In the Collection 10 book, more than 250 images are featured from the competition. If not awarded above, these included photographers are Commended in the competition.

A list of all photographers that can be seen featured in the Collection 10 book is included below (click the list to view it larger):