The 2013 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is winding up at the end of this month, but the 2012 winners are currently being exhibited at the Natural History Museum in London — and online. I’d rather see them in person, but if you can’t hop to London, this is a good alternative.
The above photo is my personal favorite, because I’m a fish fan, but it “only” won a Commended rating (which means this competition is fierce). It’s a male dusky jawfish, one of the many mouth-brooding fishes. He’s holding his eggs in the safest location a fish can provide, and making sure they get properly aerated by pumping water into his open mouth and out through his gills.
You can see the 2012 gallery of winners here, and the overall winners here. Another Canadian won the overall adult competition with a truly spectacular shot of emperor penguins returning from a hunt, and a young British man won the youth competition with a haunting photo of a red kite, soaring in a gray sky with a shadowy airline jet far above.
Note: The site isn’t particularly well laid out, so browsing the photos takes a bit more work than is ideal, but it’s worth it.
That site is a PITA to navigate, indeed, but the images are fantastic. Here’s my fave pic (with apologies to the chickens):
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2884&category=19&group=2