Heartbreaking Photo Wins Bird Photographer of the Year 2024
The Bird Photographer of the Year 2024 winners have been unveiled. An impactful image showing over 4,000 birds that died colliding with windows in Toronto has taken the grand prize in the world’s largest bird photography competition.
Photographers from all over the world entered more than 23,000 images into the competition, each with their eyes on the £3,500 grand prize.
Photographer Patricia Homonylo, from Canada, was declared the Bird Photographer of the Year for her thought-provoking image ‘When Worlds Collide’. The photograph shows birds killed by colliding with windows and other reflective surfaces in urban areas.
“Each year more than one billion birds die in North America alone due to collisions with windows,” says Homonylo. “I am a conservation photojournalist and have been working with the Fatal Light Awareness Program, where we save window-collision survivors in Toronto. Sadly, most of the birds we find are already dead. They are collected and at the end of the year we create this impactful display to honour the lives lost and increase public awareness.”
“I hope people are shocked by what they see and are moved to act by using bird-safe glass and supporting organisations like FLAP.”
Reflected light poses a severe threat to birds. To a bird, a reflective surface like a window can appear to be a continuation of the landscape that is behind them. Consequently, birds may fly straight into windows at full speed. The Fatal Light Awareness Program (www.FLAP.org) encourages people and businesses to use bird-safe films on windows, bird screens, or window grills.
Bird Photographer of the Year has conservation at its heart. This year, the competition donated £5,000 to partner charity Birds on the Brink, which provides vital funding to grass-roots bird conservation projects around the world.
“The mark of a good photograph is one that either demonstrates artistry or tells a story. The mark of an exceptional one is that it does both,” says Paul Sterry, Birds on the Brink trustee. “This is just such a photograph, portraying a tragic and often overlooked aspect of man’s impact on the environment and an unintended consequence of our species’ high rise aspirations, which turns out to be yet another devastating threat to wild birds.”
The Young Bird Photographer of the Year 2024 was awarded to 14-year-old Spanish photographer Andrés Luis Domínguez Blanco for his creative angle on a nuthatch scrambling down an oak tree.
Photographers competed in 8 different categories in the adult competition: Best Portrait, Birds in the Environment, Bird Behaviour, Birds in Flight, Black and White, Urban Birds, Conservation (Single Image), and Comedy Bird Photo. There was also a Conservation Award, Portfolio Award, and Video Award.
All awarded images are published by Princeton University Press in a hard-back coffee-table book, which is now available to order. Foreword by wildlife cameraman and presenter Simon King (HB, £30).
The 2025 competition is now open for entries at birdpoty.com, and invites photographers of all experience levels to submit their best bird photos.
