Some spectacular images!

The BBC and the Natural History Museum in England jointly sponsor an annual Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Competition. The winners of the 2008 competition have just been announced, and the 2009 competition is open to entrants.

Winner overall was this amazing image of a snow leopard in the mountains of Central Asia, taken by Steve Winter (a very appropriate name, given the season depicted in the photograph!).




David Maitland took this picture, which he called 'Deadlock', in the forests of Belize.




According to the BBC:

"The snake had failed to get its jaws around the whole of the frog's head," he recalled.

"It wouldn't let go, presumably because the frog would have leapt away. But it couldn't swallow it, either."

Neither of the creatures showed any sign of giving up in the three hours that David sat in a cramped position.

"It was a complete stalemate," he added. In the early hours, when the pair had moved beyond the focus of his lens, David decided to call it a night.

When he returned in the following morning, there was no sign of the pair and no clue to which had finally broken the deadlock.

This picture of eagles fighting over the carcass of a moose was taken by Antoni Kasprzak in Poland.




Ira Meyer of the USA photographed this arch in a 50-meter iceberg off the coast of southern Greenland. He calls the picture 'Window On The Ice Melt'.




Brian Skerry of the USA took this picture of a right whale near the Auckland Islands of New Zealand.




He comments:

Swimming with a 14-metre-long, 70-tonne whale, off the Auckland Islands, New Zealand, was the single most incredible animal encounter I have ever had. It was probably memorable for the southern right whale, too, which became fascinated by my dive buddy. Almost certainly the whale had never encountered humans under water, and was as curious about us as we were about it.

Fascinating photographs! There are lots more at the competition gallery. Highly recommended viewing.

Peter