Award-Winning Dramatic Photo Captures Ibis on Its Journey to Winter Home

The bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), once extinct due to poaching and climate change, is making a comeback. Around 400 years ago, they vanished from the northern Alps, but efforts are underway to reintroduce them to their native habitats.

A stunning photo depicts Helena Wehner in an ultralight plane, singing to guide the birds as they migrate to their new winter homes. Accompanied by pilot Johannes Fritz, Wehner is part of the Waldrup team, a dedicated Austrian conservation group focused on restoring healthy ibis populations in Europe.

The birds, raised by human caretakers, have bonded so closely that they will follow them even during flights. Since launching in 2004, this relocation initiative has garnered immense support from local communities along the 2800-kilometer route from southeast Germany to southwestern Spain.

The winning photograph, showcasing the ibis in flight over olive groves in Jaén, Spain, was captured by student Gunnar Hartmann, earning him the top award at the Nature 2026 Scientist at Work Photo Contest. Hartmann, a conservation volunteer since 2024 while studying at the Faculty of Science at Koblenz University, expressed, “This image evokes so many emotions for me. You can smell the air and imagine the sounds of that day.”

Other noteworthy entries included a captivating shot by marine biologist Uli Kunz, taken deep in the Red Sea off the Saudi Arabian coast. This image illustrates scientists installing hatching chambers on coral reef ecosystems to study the response of Acropora corals to rising water temperatures due to climate change.

A striking image by Robert Harcourt shows biologist Michael Doan diving to collect microorganisms from a whale shark (Lyncodon typus) at Ningaloo Reef, off Australia’s west coast.

Another impressive shot, taken from above, illustrates an algae bloom of Microcystis aeruginosa and Dolichospermum floss aquae at Dog Lake in Ontario, Canada. Haorun (Allen) Tian, a doctoral student at Queen’s University, reports that a “layer of toxic decay” forms in the lake each summer, leading to fish deaths and blocked water supplies. The accompanying boat depicts scientists collecting water samples for environmental DNA analysis.

Lastly, photographer Shayanta Chowdhury captured the work of entomologists at the University of Notre Dame, observing yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) under a microscope. The scientists investigated how the drug nitisinone could be utilized to eliminate these blood-sucking insects by feeding them a sugar mixture containing both nitisinone and a fluorescent dye.