Dramatic gannet dive wins Bird Photographer of the Year competition — SkimNews
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- Spiers won the overall Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 prize with a northern gannet dive-bombing into Shetland's 10°C seas, beating 24,000 other entries; he had been diving underwater and waited for a bird to plunge through a sunball framed by his lens.
- Northern gannets hit the water at up to 86 km/h, having evolved locked vertebrae, air sacs in the face and chest, and nostril seals to survive the impact as they hunt fish to feed their chicks.
- David Stowe took bronze in the portrait category for a western parotia captured performing its courtship dance in the dark rainforests of West Papua, Indonesia.
- Donald Chin won gold in bird behaviour for a tawny frogmouth fledgling near Perth, Australia, appearing to raise a wing over its siblings while rain falls around the nest.
- Luca Eberle won bronze in the conservation single-image category for photographing a BirdLife Malta officer discovering a taxidermied Egyptian vulture discarded roadside in Malta — a specimen linked to enforcement against illegal hunting of protected species.
- Romain Barats earned bronze in "birds in the environment" for snorkelling among gentoo penguins feeding on krill in Charcot Bay, Antarctica, where the penguins reportedly circled him at speed to assess whether he was a threat.
Why it matters: Among 24,000 global submissions, an underwater photographer's split-second patience — waiting for a single gannet to align with the sun — captured the year's top bird image, while conservation-category winner Eberle's shot of a dumped Egyptian vulture specimen spotlights how authorities use discarded taxidermy as forensic evidence against illegal hunters of protected species.
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