Ģ��Av

This past summer, Ģ��Av hosted its first-ever photo awards contest in association with magazine. Inspired by the theme, “Birds in Focus,” some 2,500 entrants submitted an impressive 16,000+ images. The result? A spectacular mixed photo flock of birds in a variety of poses, from chinstrap penguins frolicking on turquoise ice to a newborn snowy plover nuzzling its mama. From those entries, our panel of judges selected —which you can now see online and in our January-February 2010 print issue, along with some of our , including a dozen shots that will (c’mon, who wouldn’t grin at an oxpecker getting, er, up close and personal with a zebra’s hiney?).

At , you’ll also find a bonus gallery of 100 images you shouldn’t miss. Just roll your mouse over the photomontage to see those shots in bigger sizes.

As Ģ��Av field editor Kenn Kaufman , “Birds may surround us all the time and still pass largely unnoticed; it is the photographer’s gift to isolate that moment, to capture that pose or action or scene that we have missed. The artist with a camera creates an instant of heightened reality, making us pause to see what is really there.” Once you see our winners, hopefully you’ll agree with Kenn that this is “bird photography at its very best.”

Thanks to everyone who entered!