To snap the grand prize shot, professional photographer Liron Gertsman traveled about an hour south of his home in Vancouver, Canada, to squat under a pier. There he focused his lens on a familiar pair of birds, rock pigeons, often seen scavenging for food in crowded cities. Pigeons, like the couple Gertsman found, stay together for life. With a portable Canon camera, the grand prize winner captured the piercing eyes and multi-colored feathers of the birds.
Other competitors strayed farther from home, as distant as an Arctic cove, to snap shots of these warm-blooded animals in their habitats. They found wildlife as still as an Atlantic puffin quietly sitting on a cliff or as dynamic as a dunlin leaping by the waves. For more information and meaning behind each shot,Two rock pigeons face left in profile, each with one orange eye in view against a black background. One bird is preening the other, its bill buried in iridescent feathers.