Incredible Pictures Which Won At The Nature Photography Contest 2024

“The more I work in human-wildlife conflict, the more the conflict becomes internal.
The two dead sheep this grizzly was suspected of killing seem like pretty clear evidence of conflict, but what’s less clear is what to do about it.
A grizzly bear’s life is pretty simple: look for food, find a mate, sleep for a long time, repeat. They’re perfectly tuned to forage for berries, dig for seeds, and scavenge carcasses. True opportunists. They don’t seek out conflict, they simply make decisions based on what’s in front of them––but in the end calories are calories. Sometimes our trash cans, fruit trees, birdfeeders, and livestock make the decision tragically easy.
His decision to go after sheep landed this bear in a culvert trap, set by wildlife specialists out of concern for people, livestock, and the bear himself. Strange as it sounds, getting captured might be his best chance of survival.
Watching him through the steel grate, he didn’t seem erratic or fearful. If anything, he looked confused, trying to understand a world changing faster than he can naturally evolve. His reflection stares back at him as if expecting him to exist between two worlds: one where he’s revered as a symbol of wisdom and wildness, and the other where he’s a nuisance at best and a menace at worst.
This culvert trap isn’t the most serious one he or his kind will face. The traps we put on landscapes––roadways, unsecured attractants, our sprawling human footprint––pose far greater threats over time.
I deeply respect wildlife specialists who wrestle with the nuances of grizzly conflict. Often the people they encounter are harder to deal with than the bears, and they manage both with grace and skill. The good news is they relocated this bear to territory far from humans, where he’ll have another chance to thrive. Even better is the growing sense of collaboration among tribes, agencies, NGOs, city planners, and landowners who bring action to coexistence.”

“This is an image of Gulls retruning for roost at late afternoon
Scientific name of the species – Black headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Location- Surrey (UK)
Description – This was a flock of gulls returning home for roosting. It was late afternoon cloudy sky and the light was quite low. The shutter speed was very slow and I decided to do zooming and panning simultaneously during the slow shutter speed.
I liked the pastel effect that the background grass and vegetation created due to the zooming and panning streaks.”