An Eye for Delightful Detail

Winners of the 2019 Garden for Wildlife photo contest reveal nature’s subtle grace.

Lisa Moore
Wildlife Photography
Apr 01, 2020

PHOTOGRAPHERS SENT MORE than 4,800 entries to the National Wildlife Federation’s 2019 Garden for Wildlife™ photo contest, which invites images of animals that are thriving thanks to human efforts to provide food, water, cover and places for wildlife to raise young. “It helps showcase the conservation impact of people who garden for wildlife and also connects that community,” says Erin Sweeney, the program’s manager. Two winners appear here. To see them all, visit nwf.org/gfwphotocontest.

GRAND PRIZE: A male prothonotary warbler (above) gets relief on a hot summer day by gulping water droplets from a mister that photographer Randy Streufert placed in his Virginia backyard to benefit birds. “He seemed to especially enjoy it,” says Streufert, whose Certified Wildlife Habitat® includes feeders, pollinator plants and a pond that lures crowds of mating tree frogs. “Given the loss of habitat,” says Streufert, “I do whatever I can to help the creatures that are here.”

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FIRST PLACE: Winning in the category that celebrates close-ups of native plants and their wildlife visitors, this artful composition captures the moment an eastern tailed-blue butterfly perches on a white heath aster and opens its wings, almost as if in a pose. “Usually when they’re stationary, they have their wings closed,” says Arthur Hass, a self-described hobbyist who photographs wildlife near his Virginia home.

Lisa Moore is Editorial Director of National Wildlife.