Bird photography has a way of making you stop scrolling. One second you’re looking at a bird, and the next you’re staring at a tiny piece of wild magic frozen in time. That’s exactly what the Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 winners deliver.
With more than 24,000 images entered this year, the competition once again showcases some seriously jaw-dropping photography from around the globe. These winning images aren’t just pretty pictures of birds; they capture behavior, drama, habitat, movement, and those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that make wildlife photography so addictive.
Henley Spiers takes the coveted overall title with Sunball Rocket, an unforgettable photograph of a northern gannet exploding through the surface of the ocean. The image also earned the Gold Award in the Birds in the Environment category, while Spiers took home the £3,000 top prize.
And then there’s 16-year-old Parham Pourahmad, the Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2026. His enchanting photograph of a great horned owl framed against a full moon is the kind of image that makes you wonder how on earth he timed it so perfectly.
From explosive action shots to quiet, intimate portraits, these 35 photographs celebrate birds in all their wild, weird, and wonderful glory. They also help raise vital funds for Birds on the Brink, making the competition about more than photography; it’s a celebration of birdlife and conservation.
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#1. Overall Winner: Sunball Rocket by Henley Spiers
"Taking the title of Bird Photographer of the Year, our Overall Winner is ‘Sunball Rocket’ by Henley Spiers. The image shows a northern gannet bursting through the ocean’s surface. Spiers wins the top prize of £3,000 and the prestigious title. His image also won the Gold Award in the Birds in the Environment category."
#2. Young Bird Photographer of the Year: Moonlit Night by Parham Pourahmad
"The Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 was awarded to 16-year-old Parham Pourahmad from the United States, for his enchanting image of a great horned owl framed against a full moon."
#3. Best Portfolio – Winner: Fabulous Frigatebirds
"Frigatebirds are extraordinary seabirds with wingspans exceeding seven feet, narrow wings, forked tails, and a striking, prehistoric silhouette. Despite feeding on seafood, they lack waterproof feathers and cannot land on water, instead chasing other seabirds to steal or force them to regurgitate food. Males are famous for inflating a bright red gular pouch during courtship displays."
#4. Best Portrait – Gold: Radiant by Thomas Deliberto, United States
"A male greater sage-grouse during its courtship display. As the sun was rising over the shadowed sagebrush hill behind him, it illuminated the bird’s tail feathers such that they appeared to radiate light. I was fortunate to visit a sage-grouse lek, an area in which the birds congregate to mate."
#5. Best Portrait – Silver: Sunset Puffin by Volker Widmann, Germany
"I spent several days on Skomer to photograph the Atlantic Puffins in the early morning and late evening, when the day tourists had left the island and you had the birds almost to yourself. This evening, I waited at the puffin colony until the sun went down and photographed this bird against the reflections in the ocean."
#6. Best Portrait – Bronze: Tiny Dancer by David Stowe, Australia
"A male Western Parotia dances in the dark rainforest of West Papua in a dazzling attempt to attract a female."
#7. Birds in the Environment – Silver: Majesty by Åsmund Keilen, Norway
"A majestic golden eagle drifts in dark silhouette across the face of the moon, its outstretched wings cutting a powerful shape through silver light. Below, winter-clad peaks rise in quiet stillness, their frozen ridges layered through in-camera multiple exposure to shape the visual expression I envisioned."
#8. Birds in the Environment – Bronze: Back to Fishing by Romain Barats, France
"I was snorkeling in the magnificent Port Charcot bay in Antarctica when a raft of gentoo penguins suddenly showed up, en route to fish and feed on krill. These iconic birds are incredibly curious so they went straight to me to evaluate if I could be a threat or not. They spent a while swimming so fast around me."
#9. Bird Behaviour – Gold: I’m Keeping Everyone Dry by Donald Chin, Australia
"Rain threads through the forest. Camouflaged against bark and shadow, a fledgling tawny frogmouth stretches its wings in what looks like covering its other siblings from the water droplets. Stillness is its field, with patience its inheritance. In the hush between falling drops, resilience becomes a form of quiet strength. His big round eyes and open mouth make it a cute capture."
#10. Bird Behaviour – Silver: Spread Eagle by Mark Carwardine, United Kingdom
"The Great Bear Rainforest on the west coast of Canada, as its name suggests, is a wet place, and on this particular day, it had been raining nonstop. I was on a Zodiac slowly meandering along an inlet in the forest when I spotted this magnificent juvenile bald eagle with its wings spread open. This behaviour is usually associated with either cooling down or drying feathers, but it seemed an almost impossible task in such relentless rain. Still, the eagle held its posture with determination."
#11. Bird Behaviour – Bronze: Kleptoparasitism by Bernhard Schubert, Austria
"At the beach in Tulum, I positioned myself parallel to a fisherman whose unwanted catch repeatedly triggered aerial skirmishes overhead. The frigatebirds cruised just metres above him, and whenever a fish was tossed upward, the airspace erupted. I tracked the initial grab and ensuing chase with a fast shutter speed and wide AF area, anticipating erratic direction changes."
#12. Birds in Flight – Gold: Eye-to-Eye with a Short-Eared Owl by Ivan Sjögren, Sweden
"A short-eared owl courses over the salt marshes of British Columbia’s Fraser River Delta. This was a magical evening, with five owls feeding around me as dusk fell. I witnessed both fights between owls and, later, displays in which they clapped their wings together."
#13. Birds in Flight – Silver: Patterns by Alex Pansier, Netherlands
"Captured in March 2025 on Hornøya, this image reveals a mesmerizing swarm of guillemots in flight. What first appears as an Escher-like illusion is nature’s own design, organised chaos in motion. The sky becomes a canvas of repetition and rhythm, where the boundaries between order and disorder dissolve before your eyes."
#14. Birds in Flight – Bronze: Lord of the Reedbeds by Patryk Kurc, Poland
"A bittern flying from reedbed to reedbed, captured from a floating hide, against the light of the rising sun. In Poland, it is one of the most secretive birds."
#15. Black and White – Gold: An Ostrich Horizon by Rahul Sachdev, India
"An ostrich makes its way towards the dry lake bed of Amboseli. In black and white, the stark landscape emphasizes the bird’s solitary journey across the dust and heat."
#16. Black and White – Silver: Grass Tree by Raoul Slater, Australia
"At our neighbour’s gate is a grass tree, also known as a Xanthorrhoea. These slow-growing succulents are native to Australia, and there are 30 species. They produce spectacular flower spikes that drip with nectar, attracting birds like this little wattlebird, butterflies and native bees. I’ve photographed this tree for a decade, but with never more than two spikes."
#17. Black and White – Bronze: Promenade Preening by Julian Terreros-Martin, Spain
"A little penguin walks this Tasmanian promenade during the night to reach its burrow tucked safely away in the nearby shrubs. Using the promenade lighting to light the subject, this image shows how these penguins have found a way to live alongside humans and even nest in the town’s gardens."
#18. Creative Perspectives – Gold: Sundance by Åsmund Keilen, Norway
"On a blazing summer day, a common swift slices through the air, captured in an in-camera multiple exposure reflected in the glossy roof of our blue car. The sun burns at the center of the frame, radiating heat and brilliance, while drifting birch seeds scatter across the reflection like a fleeting flock echoing the swift’s movement. "
#19. Creative Perspectives – Silver: Turbulence by Henley Spiers, United Kingdom
"What if the most impressive animal you could encounter in British waters wasn’t a fish or a whale, but a bird? That was exactly how it felt to me in the frigid sea at Britain’s northernmost point. The dark water was repeatedly shattered by the dives of dozens of northern gannets, plunging after their prey."
#20. Creative Perspectives – Bronze: Grebe Impression by Julian Łoziński, Poland
"A young great crested grebe photographed using the ICM technique. I took the photo from a kayak, and I must admit that combining the aforementioned technique with kayaking was a bit of a challenge. Initially, I held the camera still at a focal length of 400mm, then zoomed out to 100mm, pointed the lens at the trees on the lake shore where the light was shining through, and in this way, I added structure to the frame by moving the camera. Fortunately, both the photographer and the camera stayed dry."
#21. Urban Birds – Gold: Alter Ego by Gianluca Damiani, Italy
"In Rome, tall buildings function for yellow-legged gulls much like coastal cliffs, offering nesting, roosts and perches to survive within the city. This individual was photographed on a rooftop where a small colony had settled. The dry pet food visible on the windowsill reflects a routine practice by local residents of feeding urban birds, especially since COVID-19."
#22. Urban Birds – Silver: Deception’s Hope by Romain Barats, France
"This picture was taken on Deception Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula. Many disasters happen on Deception Island. Home of a fur seal trade leading to an almost extinction of seals, a whaling station, and then many volcanic eruptions leading to the destruction of scientific stations, this island looks like it is cursed."
#23. Urban Birds – Bronze: The Window of Dreams by Julian Fernandez Quilez, Spain
"From inside an abandoned house, photographed remotely during the bird’s visits in and out, the evening light pours through the window and casts warm shadows across the aged wood. Among old books, flowers, and silence, a space is revealed that seems suspended in time. This is the home of this solitary rock thrush, which has made these forgotten walls both its refuge and its window onto the outside world."
#24. Conservation – Gold: Not a Good Day Fishing by Kent Stuart, United States
"This image was taken at a local pond that I frequent. It has limited access, so I hike in from a cornfield on the back side. I was wearing chest waders and worked my way out to a mud flat. I used a ground pod with a gimbal and had a camouflage net covering me."
#25. Conservation – Silver: Birds in the Red by Yann Bigant, France
"Yellow bitterns and other waterbirds for sale in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An investigation into bird hunting and trade, during which this photo was taken, found wild birds sold illegally throughout the country, including in several markets of the capital."
#26. Conservation – Bronze: Discarded Evidence by Luca Eberle, Italy
"Although hunting of migratory species in Malta is regulated by national law, violations remain widespread, with dozens – sometimes hundreds – of protected and rare birds illegally killed each season, including many raptors. To detect offenses, authorities occasionally inspect hunters’ taxidermy collections."
#27. Conservation Award: Hen Harrier Persecution by Conrad Dickinson, UK
"Hen Harriers are an iconic bird of prey found in the uplands; they are also the most persecuted bird of prey in England for their population size. A population of over 300 pairs should exist on the upland moorland, but sadly there is less than 10% of this number."
#28. 15-17 years – Silver: Among Others by Szymon Bartołd, Poland
#29. 15-17 years – Bronze: Black and Wings by Eugène Soussan
#30. 12-14 years – Gold: Acrobat of the Skies by Paula Czaeczine
"On a small island in Norway, I observed Red-Necked Phalaropes foraging for food. One bird was swimming on a pond, pecking insects from the surface. Suddenly, it raised its head, stretched upwards, spread its wings, and fluttered into the air. Luckily, I had selected a high frame rate and was able to capture this fascinating moment, as well as the small moth the bird had caught."
#31. 12-14 years – Silver: Golden Companions by Rithved Girishkumar
#32. 12-14 years – Bronze: Flying Solo by Marina Gavrikova
#33. 11 and under – Gold: Emerald Eye by Alberto Román Gómez
"The Great Cormorants in the area where I live are elusive and do not easily allow themselves to be photographed. However, in London, they were far more trusting and allowed people to approach within a few metres. I was able to observe them calmly and see that they are beautiful black birds with a metallic sheen. What really caught my attention, though, were their emerald-green eyes, so I decided to take a close portrait of the bird’s head."
#34. 11 and under – Silver: Wagtail On Tap by Jamie Smart
#35. 11 and under – Bronze: Andean Cock-of-the-Rock by Jackson Duff
Frequently Asked Questions:
Who won Bird Photographer of the Year 2026?
Henley Spiers won the overall Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 title with Sunball Rocket, showing a northern gannet bursting through the ocean surface. His photograph also received the Gold Award in the Birds in the Environment category.
How many images were entered in Bird Photographer of the Year 2026?
More than 24,000 photographs were entered into the 2026 Bird Photographer of the Year competition. The entries celebrated birdlife worldwide and showcased exceptional wildlife photography across numerous categories.
Who won Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2026?
Sixteen-year-old Parham Pourahmad from the United States was named Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2026. His winning image features a great horned owl beautifully framed against a full moon.
What photograph won Bird Photographer of the Year 2026?
Henley Spiers’ Sunball Rocket won the overall Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 title. The dramatic photograph captures a northern gannet breaking through the ocean’s surface in a spectacular moment.
Does Bird Photographer of the Year support conservation?
Yes. The competition helps raise vital funds for its partner charity, Birds on the Brink. The organization celebrates birdlife through photography while supporting conservation efforts to protect birds and their habitats.
