A northern gannet punching through the sea surface, shot half above and half below the water, won the overall title at Bird Photographer of the Year 2026. The winners were unveiled on September 21, 2026. The image, Sunball Rocket by UK photographer Henley Spiers, was taken in Scottish waters. It also won Gold in the Birds in the Environment category and brought its author the £3,000 grand prize.
The organisers call the event the “world’s largest bird photography competition”, and this year’s numbers back that up: more than 24,000 images were submitted by photographers around the world.
The winning shot
Spiers used a Nikon Z 8 with a Nikon 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E fisheye zoom, set at 15mm, 1/200s, f/11 and ISO 500. A fisheye lets you get very close to your subject and still take in the surroundings, which is why it works so well for split-level shots of seabirds at the moment they hit the water. In his description, Spiers points to the bird’s two sides. “In the nest, their newborn is carefully nurtured, and a couple’s bond is reinforced by pointing sharp beaks to the sky as they tenderly stroke their white necks together,” he wrote. In hunting mode, “the gannet shape-shifts into a pointed torpedo, diving into the water at speeds of up to 86km/h.” He also took Silver in Creative Perspectives with another underwater gannet image.
Gold winners across the categories
- Best Portrait: Thomas Deliberto (USA), a greater sage-grouse on display
- Bird Behaviour: Donald Chin (Australia), a tawny frogmouth fledgling
- Birds in Flight: Ivan Sjogren, a short-eared owl over the Fraser River Delta
- Black and White: Rahul Sachdev, an ostrich on the dry lake bed at Amboseli
- Conservation (Single Image): Kent Stuart (USA), a great blue heron tangled in fishing line
- Creative Perspectives: Asmund Keilen (Norway), a common swift captured as an in-camera multiple exposure
- Urban Birds: Gianluca Damiani (Italy), a seagull in front of a street mural in Rome
Keilen had a strong year overall. He also won Silver in Birds in the Environment with a golden eagle silhouetted against the moon. Other highlights in the Silver and Bronze lists include Mark Carwardine’s juvenile bald eagle in the Great Bear Rainforest, Yann Bigant’s waterbirds for sale in Cambodia and Luca Eberle’s stuffed Egyptian vulture in Malta. The last two are pointed reminders of why the Conservation category exists.
A teenager with a Rebel
The Young Bird Photographer of the Year title went to Parham Pourahmad (United States) for Moonlit Night, a great horned owl silhouetted against a full moon. The kit behind it was modest: a Canon EOS Rebel T5i with a Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, at 275mm, 1/500s, f5.6 and ISO 6,400. Nikon Z-series bodies appear throughout the adult winners’ gear lists: the Z 9 was used for the Best Portrait and Urban Birds Gold images, and a Canon EOS R5 was behind the Birds in Flight Gold. Pourahmad’s win shows that fieldcraft still counts for more than the price of the camera.
Real moments, not rendered ones
The competition’s director, Will Nicholls, focused on authenticity at a time when AI-generated imagery is everywhere. “Every image in the competition represents a real moment in the wild, earned through patience, dedication and a genuine connection with nature,” he said. The contest also supports conservation directly: more than £5,000 went to the charity Birds on the Brink. Entries for the next edition, BPOTY 12, are open at birdpoty.com to photographers of all experience levels.
