Winners 2016
Here you can see the winner photos of the photography competition “European Treasures of Nature”. We thank all photographers for participating. Please try again! We would be very happy to receive many first-class photos again.
Tip: Click on the photo to enlarge.
European hamster
First prize: Julian Rad
Make way there! No, this little hamster is not running away, it is carrying winter supplies in its well-stuffed cheeks to store in its burrow. These rodents store up to four kilos of grain to see them through the winter.
Robin
Second prize: Raymond Widawski
Staring at me, are you?! This robin seemed to be piping at the photographer. But it wasn't outrage that made it fluff up its feathers like this. It was the icy January temperature that day.
Cuckoo
Third prize: Franka Slothouber
Fanfare for the act! This little reed warbler is stretching its head into the throat of … but no! What looks like a daring circus number for trainer and tiger is in fact a case of parental care. The warbler is busy feeding a young cuckoo, little realising this egg had been 'planted' in its nest.
Fox
Fourth prize: Ismaele Tortella
We are still in the clutches of winter here in the Abruzzo National Park in Italy but this fox is indulging in spring feelings, only interrupting its happy play in the snow to have a little scratch at its fur.
Great Bustard
Fifth prize: José Luis Rodríguez
The photographer has been patiently awaiting this moment in his hide near the Spanish village of Calera y Chozas. Slowly a male separates from the flock of Great Bustards and strides majestically out through the bright sea of flowers. Click!
Moor frog dip
Sixth prize: Oliver Richter
The mating rituals of the moor frog are exhausting for the performer. This male frog is resting in the evening after the strain of his croaking serenades, relaxing in the flooded hollows of a meadow between Elbe and Mulde.
Dalmatian pelican
7th prize: Dirk Niggemann
Would you have recognized them? Are these ears? Soft, fluffly ears? No, here in Lake Kerkini National Park in Northern Greece two Dalmation pelicans are curling in their heads down to tackle some serious preening of their feathers.
Black Grouse
8th prize: Bertrand Muffat Joly
A round of applause for the performance! High in Haute Savoie in Eastern France this black grouse has sung his heart out in a passionate love song to his lady. One wonders – was his inamorata as impressed as the photographer?
Old World Swallowtail
9th prize: Markus Hendel
On his morning walks along the Breton coast photographer Markus Hendel is never without his camera. Luckily! For this was how he was able to capture this Old World Swallowtail in a gossamer gown of dew.
Brown bear
10th prize: Sami Rahkonen
With clear overtones of Baloo the bear in the Walt Disney film of The Jungle Book, here is a bear who 'looks for the simple bare necessities- that's why a bear can rest at ease'. And here is a female bear devoting herself simply to scratching her fur against a useful tree-trunk. Is there also a hidden message in this to males in the area?
Elephant hawk mouth
11th prize: Konrad Funk
Elephant hawk moths are perfectly attuned to the colour of the rosebay willow herb (in the background). What looks like a fashion statement is a pure survival tactic. The insects are well camouflaged to escape their potential enemies.
Early bird
12th prize: Martin Wenner
An autumn morning in the Dollart bay, south of Emden: slowly, slowly the sun is rising above the dike and bathing the sea in orange light. A pied avocet takes unhurried steps across the picture leaving a fine trace across the smooth surface of the water.