Book Review - Bird Photographer of the Year - Princeton University Press

     It is remarkable that I now have in my hands the 10th-anniversary edition of the Bird Photographer of the Year, a publication eagerly anticipated each year by nature lovers around the world. It is a source of both joy and wonderment that birds can be presented in such phenomenal variety, with both technical skill and interpretive superiority on display from page to  page. One is truly left in awe at the results that are achieved. 

      Many of the photographs are taken by professionals with highly sophisticated equipment and years of field experience, yet there is room for the dedicated amateur too. Age, gender, status in life, finances and physical ability are no barrier to a world-class photograph.

     Different categories are available, in order to encompass the full scope of technical proficiency and artistic interpretation. The categories are, Best Portrait, Birds in the Environment, Bird Behaviour, Birds in Flight, Black-and-white, Urban Birds, Creative Perspectives, Conservation, and the Young Bird Photographer of the Year.

    To select around 250 best entries from 33,000-plus photographs received must be a daunting task for the judges. I do not envy them their responsibility and commitment to fairness and lack of bias. Nor do I underestimate the countless hours spent sifting through all these pictures and selecting the most outstanding in each category, comparing one with another, revising a ranking upon seeing new images.

     One of the pleasures of poring over Bird Photographer of the Year is that you are free to assign your own judgement to the pictures on display. It's quite alright to disagree with the selections made by the judges. They of course make their selection through the prism of their lens and you are perfectly entitled to do the same. I suspect they laboured long and hard to finally declare a winner and the margin of superiority of one picture over another was very small indeed.

     A portion of the profits of the Bird Photographer of the Year goes to Birds on the Brink, a well-known charity, impeccable in its reputation, magnificent in its action to support bird conservation around the world.

     May I take a moment to exercise a little healthy national pride and point out that this year's Bird Photographer of the Year is the Canadian, Liron Gertsman. Well done, Liron. You have made us all proud.

     Birds around the world are threatened in myriad ways and anything that can be done to raise their profile and safeguard their habitat is more urgent now than at any time in history.

     In the touching comments by Birds on the Brink, perhaps the following words highlight most forcefully the enormity of the problem, "Increasingly, those who see the natural world as a resource to be plundered and exploited hold economic sway over those who regard it as a treasure to be protected."

     I urge everyone to buy a copy of this scintillating work, both for the visual delight that will enrich your life, and to aid in bird conservation - because it's the right thing to do.

     It's easy - and understandable - to become defeatist, but together perhaps we can make a difference. To cite a former well-loved American President, "Yes, we can!"

     May the birds be with you!

Bird Photographer of the Year: Collection 10 - Princeton University Press

Edited by Bird Photographer of the Year Limited

Foreword by Nigel Marven

Hardcover - US$39.95 - ISBN: 9780691278674

256 pages - 11.25 x 9.245 inches (28.125 x 23.11 cm)

245 colour photographs

Publication date: 30 September, 2025