Australian bushfires win International Wildlife Photo Award – Early Birds

The wildlife photo of a devastating forest fire in northern Australia is the winner of this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. Out of 55,486 votes from around the world, wildlife photographers decided that Australian wildlife photographer Robert Irwin’s photo titled “Wildfires” was an important story that should be in the spotlight.

After seeing smoke on the horizon, Irwin launched his plane and sent it straight to the site of the fire. With only a few minutes of battery left, he knew he had to act fast. In the midst of the dense smoke of the fire, I managed to capture a bright 50:50 photo, with a nature reserve on one side next to the black remnants on the other side. The area, near the Steve Irwin Wildlife Refuge in Cape York, Queensland, is home to more than 30 different ecosystems that are home to many endangered species.

Robert Irwin is the son of conservation activist Steve Irwin, known and infamous for his amazing TV show “The Crocodile Hunter”.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a photography competition developed by the Natural History Museum that provides a global platform for amateur and professional photographers alike. This year, more than 49,000 photos were entered into the annual photo competition, and the Natural History Museum selected 25 photos on its shortlist. Irwinz and four other pictures eventually appeared as favorites.

The four “highly praised” images that nature photography enthusiasts can win are the intimate portrayal of the relationship between a forester and a rhinoceros in Mom Vitali’s “Last Farewell”, Andy Parkinson’s beautiful winter painting “Her Ball,” an innovative remote control image. Two squirrels in Neil Anderson’s “Dray’s Dream” and a “close encounter” between a restless Labrador and a colossal moose captured by Guillermo Esteves.