GRAND \par PRIZE \par
Kim \par Steininger \par
Chadds Ford, \par Pennsylvania \par
"I \par took this picture right before I ducked," says Steininger. On a \par bird-watching trip in Ontario, \par Canada, \par last winter, the network administrator noticed that one of the great \par gray owls she was photographing was staring back at her. "I didn't \par think anything of it until it started flying at me," she says. \par Before getting out of the way, Steininger captured this digital \par photo with a 500mm telephoto lens. \par
\par
MORE \par THAN 4,000 images were submitted during the past year to National \par Wildlife's 35th annual photo contest. Selected by the editors on the \par basis of originality and execution, the winners appear here. \par
\par
Victor S. \par Lamoureux \par
Vestal, New \par York \par
Lamoureux, a high school biology teacher, knows \par frogs. So when he went frog-watching with his son and niece at a \par nearby pond and spotted two male green frogs clinging to each other, \par he knew it was something unusual. Then my son said, "Dad, Dad, \par look-there are three frogs!" says Lamoureux. As it turned out, there \par actually were four: three males in a conga line behind one put-upon \par female. Lamoureux raced back to his house with the kids in tow, and \par returned to take this digital image with a 180mm macro \par lens. \par
\par
Ray G. \par Foster \par
Salem, \par Oregon \par
Ducks, not hummingbirds, were on Foster's mind \par when he settled down behind a photo blind near a pond in southern \par Oregon. "I \par wasn't having any duck luck so I decided to focus on this \par hummingbird," says the paper mill worker. He used a 300mm lens to \par take this unusual photo of a rufous hummingbird collecting fibers \par from a cattail--presumably to build a \par nest. \par
\par
Kevin \par Doxstater \par
Port Orange, \par Florida \par
While \par photographing water birds in Florida's Fort DeSoto Park, Doxstater \par spotted a long-billed curlew hundreds of feet away in the middle of \par a tidal marsh. Doxstater took off his socks and shoes and slowly \par waded into the marsh, making digital photos along the way using a \par 500mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter. In the end, he was rewarded \par with this close-up shot of the curlew in the middle of a crab \par lunch. \par
\par
Craig \par Hilton \par
Lakewood, \par Colorado \par
On a \par trip to Utah's Bear River, Hilton was surprised to see a pair of \par hungry American white pelicans herding several carp-bigger than the \par birds' bills-into the shallows. Hilton captured the moment with a \par digital camera and a 200-400mm zoom lens. "What I love about the \par picture is the expression on the pelicans' faces. You know they're \par having a good time," he says. \par
\par
Hira \par Punjabi \par
Maharashtra, \par India \par
On a \par frigid winter morning at India's Tal Chappar animal sanctuary, \par Punjabi came upon two male blackbucks battling for dominance against \par a glowing backdrop of dust and light. The graceful animals, once \par overhunted, can now be seen in herds throughout \par India. Punjabi \par made the photograph with a 500mm telephoto \par lens. \par
\par
Bill \par Yeaton \par
Dover, New \par Hampshire \par
Yeaton was working as a physician on a small \par cruise ship in Mexico's Sea of Cort\'e9s when, at breakfast one \par morning, the passengers noticed that several dolphins were swimming \par alongside the boat. "Then more and more dolphins came up, until \par there were hundreds surrounding us," says Yeaton. He took this photo \par with a digital camera and a 28-300mm zoom \par lens. \par
\par
James \par Shadle \par
Valrico, \par Florida \par
Last \par spring, Shadle headed to Tampa \par Bay to \par photograph a spoonbill rookery there. The salesman jumped out of his \par boat, lowered his tripod and, using a digital camera and a 600mm \par lens, photographed this roseate spoonbill just as it came in for a \par landing. \par
\par
Christopher C. \par Barry \par
Huntington, West \par Virginia \par
Perched on a bright yellow lily, a Scudderia katydid nymph \par caught Barry's eye as he strolled through a \par Huntington public \par park. Using a digital camera with a 38-76mm zoom lens, Barry \par captured a close-up of the insect looking like it climbed the flower \par just to enjoy the view. \par
\par
Joshua D. \par Henson \par
Coeur d'Alene, \par Idaho \par
One \par night during a late-October camping trip in \par Yellowstone, Henson \par was driven out of his tent and into his car by the cold. The next \par morning, the freezing temperatures awoke the seasonal park ranger \par before dawn--just in time for him to capture this frosty, foggy \par field at sunrise. He used a 28-80mm lens to make the \par photo. \par
\par
Adam \par Schallau \par
Ranchos de Taos, New \par Mexico \par
Scouting for wildflowers near Crested Butte, \par Colorado, Schallau hit a gold mine: a field of mule's ear against a \par backdrop of the Anthracite \par Range and a \par glorious sunset. To capture the golden moment, the retail account \par manager used a 12-24mm zoom lens and a tripod to hold his digital \par camera steady for the quarter-second \par exposure. \par
\par
Edsel L. \par Romero \par
Cavite, \par Philippines \par
While \par visiting Singapore Botanic Gardens in July 2004, Romero spotted two \par pairs of mating daylight-flying moths on a single blade of grass. To \par take the digital photo, the computer programmer lay flat on the \par ground, inches away from the brightly patterned moths, and used a \par 180mm macro lens. \par
\par
Robert M. \par Palmer \par
Milliken, \par Colorado \par
A \par young swift fox makes a dash for its den, a kangaroo rat clenched \par tightly in its teeth. Earlier this year, Palmer stumbled upon the \par kit's mother and followed her back to her den in eastern \par Colorado--a rare \par find, since swift foxes have vanished from 90 percent of their \par historic range in the United \par States. Over the next month or so, \par Palmer, a product manager, returned often to the site, taking \par hundreds of photos of the young fox family. "Once they got used to \par having me there, they acted like I was part of the family," he says. \par Palmer made this digital photo with a 500mm lens and a 1.4x \par teleconverter. \par
\par
Jerry \par Horowitz \par
Marlboro, \par New \par Jersey \par
Horowitz photographed this brown bear on \par Alaska's \par Kodiak \par Island.
The retiree used a 70-200mm \par zoom lens. \par
\par
Nick J. \par Dunlop \par
Sebastopol, \par California \par
Dunlop photographed this belted kingfisher near \par his home. The real estate appraiser
used a 600mm lens and 1.4x \par teleconverter.\par \par
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