Photographer Page

Karine Aigner

A cage holding a Cuban bullfinch hangs alongside a road, so that the bird becomes accustomed to the hubbub of street life and is therefore less likely to be distracted during a singing competition. “The pictures make it real,” says Karine Aigner of her Photojournalist Story Award-winning shots of captive songbirds in Cuba. With this assignment, Aigner says she wanted to make people think about the way we exploit wild animals for our wants and desires. “When you look at these photos, and you see how it really is, the smallness of the cages, you get a stronger sense of the reality for these animals,” she says.

A buzzing ball of cactus bees spins over the hot sand. After a few minutes, the pair at the ball's center—a male clinging to the only female in the scrum—flew away to mate.

Safari jeeps and tourists surround a tiger in Ranthambore National Park, in Rajasthan, India. The park was declared a tiger reserve as part of Project Tiger, a national effort to conserve the endangered big cats. It’s now home to about 58 tigers, after years of poaching caused their numbers to dwindle. New studies show that tigers in the park may be affected by inbreeding, a result of being isolated from other populations.

A western diamondback gets into strike position. New research finds that rattlesnakes change the speed of their rattles when a potential threat gets closer.

Stephen P. Northrup holds his nine-foot-long carpet python, named Leisure, in Saint Augustine, Florida. Northrup, who recently had foot surgery and spends a lot time alone while his family is at work and school, cares for eight snakes. "They give me quite a bit of comfort,” he says. “I ain't got nobody to chill with.”

A harpy eagle provides a freshly killed armadillo as a meal for its hungry chick in the Brazilian Amazon. Since the 1800s, their range across Central and South America has declined by more than 40 percent. Scientists are monitoring this nest and others as part of an effort to protect harpy eagles in areas most vulnerable to deforestation. (From “The heroic effort in the Amazon to save one of the world’s largest eagles,” April 2020.)

Thousands of migratory songbirds are caught around Florida each year to supply a thriving illegal market. Before seized birds are released back into the wild by law enforcement, they are put in an aviary for several weeks where they learn how to fly again as well as how to “find” new food.

Thousands of migratory songbirds are caught in Florida each year to supply a thriving illegal market. It can sometimes takes weeks of rehabilitation to strengthen the wings of confiscated songbirds so they can fly again. Here, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Lt. Antonio Dominguez releases rose-breasted grosbeaks back into the wild.

The giant river otter lives in the slow-moving rivers, lakes, and swamps of the Amazon basin. Habitat destruction, overfishing, and pollution of water from mining and other human activities has resulted in the species being declared endangered.

Just like every other living thing, honeybees need water to survive. During the summer, a hive needs at least litre of water per day.