Last night, this photograph of an Arctic Tern was named a Category Winner in BioPhotoContest 2024. The same image was also awarded in Bird Photographer of the Year and Siena International Photo Awards earlier this year. This is very inspiring!
But the beautiful and tiny 113-gram Arctic Tern is also a super impressive bird! Each year, it makes the longest migration of any animal in the world, travelling between breeding sites in the northern Arctic and survival/moult areas in the Antarctic pack‐ice zone. That practically means flying from the North Pole to the South Pole and back – each year! Miniature transmitters have revealed that they follow zigzagging routes and rack up to 71,000 kilometres annually!
The picture was taken in July 2023 in front of the Monaco glacier in Liefdefjorden, at the northwest tip of Svalbard in the high Arctic.
Click on the image to enlarge and see it in 1400px quality.
Arctic Tern.
Category Winner in BioPhotoContest 2024.
Commended in Bird Photographer of the Year 2024.
Highly Commended in Siena International Photo Awards 2024.
Nikon Z9, Nikkor 600/4TC @ 840mm, 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, and ISO 2,800.
