2024 Garden for Wildlife® Photo Contest Winners
Take a look at this year’s stunning photos that were top overall submissions, individual category winners, and category runners-up!
The 2024 Garden for Wildlife® Photo Contest saw over 5,000 submitted photos that showcased the impact habitat gardens can have on wildlife and people. Enjoy these incredible photos along with comments from the photographers themselves sharing the stories behind these great shots.
See all of the 2024 winners below—and don’t miss our Honorable Mentions and your People’s Choice pick.
GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Radim Schreiber
Firefly Illuminating Wildflowers
Fairfield, Iowa
Schreiber’s image captures the majesty of an Iowan species of firefly. Reflecting on this moment, Schreiber states: “It is amazing how such a small insect can create so much light. A firefly illuminated white wood anemone wildflowers with its brilliant yellow lantern in my garden. When I saw the firefly climbing up the flower, I got ready to capture its moment of magic. I knew the firefly would likely reach the top and flash to attract its mate. I was lucky. It flashed a couple of times before taking off, allowing me to press the shutter at the right moment and capture the beauty of its light illuminating the wildflowers.”
Timing and light are everything when it comes to nature photography, and this photo is one fantastic example of that in action! Read more about our Grand Prize Winner here.
GRAND PRIZE RUNNER-UP
Rebecca Hall
Guardian Angel
Aptos, California
Hall captured this photo in her very own garden. She remarks on this incredible scene: “This male California quail is perched atop a bush keeping an eye out for predators while his chicks and partner forage below him. Simultaneously, an oak moth is flying directly above him, resembling a guardian angel.” She credits the many native plants in their garden with attracting such a plethora of wildlife, stating: “My mom is an avid gardener, so I am fortunate to live on a property that is filled with native plants. Consequently, we get a huge variety of wildlife visitors throughout the year, from monarchs to gray foxes.”
Reflecting on her health journey and the role photography plays for her, Hall shares: “Wildlife photography has turned out to be a complete game-changer for me, my well-being, and my ability to cope with all the stress and fear. When I am outside with the wild things, surrounded by life and beauty, I don’t think about cancer or feel like a cancer patient, and I can’t overstate what a gift that is…I am often confined to our property (after infusions and when I’m not feeling well) and I can’t travel too far, which has forced me to really appreciate all the spectacular wildlife that we have right in our backyard.”
Hall’s photo is a stunning example of what incredible wildlife can be found right in your own garden.
PEOPLE IN THE WILDLIFE GARDEN CATEGORY WINNER
Edward Lee August
One with the Sanctuary
Floyd, Virginia
“Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary is a consciously cultivated honeybee sanctuary that promotes sustainable beekeeping. Our 41-acre sanctuary is located on the banks of the Little River in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Floyd, Virginia on traditional Tutelo lands. Pictured is our Director, Alex Tuchman, beholding one of our pollinator gardens while holding beekeeping equipment.”
CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITAT LANDSCAPES CATEGORY WINNER
Gemma Amos
American Bushtits in a Fountain
Seattle, Washington
“These delightful little birds caused a ruckus when they all tried to squeeze into our front-yard fountain for a bath. I got a lot of humorous shots but loved this one of the bird staring directly into the camera whilst chaos reigned behind them.”
CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITAT LANDSCAPES CATEGORY RUNNER UP
Dawn Cavalieri
Smooth Blue Asters and Northern Red Oak
Bronx, New York
“I took this photo in the Native Plant Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. It was tricky: I wanted to get the asters in the right foreground in focus while blurring the plants behind it. The windy conditions didn't help matters. Using an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/500, I got the balance and sharpness I wanted. Between the asters (Symphyotrichum laeve var. laeve) and the oak (Quercus rubra) there are several other natives, including prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis).”
WILDLIFE OBSERVATIONS WHERE PEOPLE LIVE, WORK, PLAY, LEARN AND WORSHIP CATEGORY WINNER
Laura Romin & Larry Dalton
American Marten
Silver Gate, Montana
“My husband and I were photographing in Yellowstone in the winter of 2021, and we stayed in Silver Gate Montana. We met a couple who told us that they had an American marten visiting their cabin regularly. The couple was not baiting this marten - it was likely visiting to hunt birds and squirrels. They offered that we could wait on their property to watch for and photograph the marten. One day I had great luck - with the color of their cabin for the photo's background!”
WILDLIFE OBSERVATIONS WHERE PEOPLE LIVE, WORK, PLAY, LEARN AND WORSHIP CATEGORY RUNNER-UP
Dale Fisher
Bullock's Oriole with Prayer Flags
Ashland, Oregon
“We had recently put up prayer flags over our patio just outside our kitchen window. Unexpectedly, a bright, orange flash caught our eye, and the sight and significance of this beautiful Bullock's Oriole collecting nesting material from the prayer flags was irresistible. I ran to grab my camera and luckily the oriole was still there, and I was able to capture the photo.”
CLOSE-UP NATIVE PLANTS AND THEIR WILDLIFE VISITORS CATEGORY WINNER
Thomas McClanahan
Cecropia Moth and Michigan Lily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
McClanahan shares that this photo was taken in their very own garden, which is a Certified Wildlife Habitat® with the National Wildlife Federation! Sharing about their property, McClanahan says: “Our rural property (with its 1860-era farmhouse) borders a small glacial lake and contains dozens of perennial gardens that we have been planting and cultivating for many years. Our gardens contain mainly diverse habitats for local wildlife, and plantings of native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that attract small mammals, songbirds, hummingbirds, and insects.”
CLOSE-UP NATIVE PLANTS AND THEIR WILDLIFE VISITORS CATEGORY RUNNER-UP
Stacy Gessler
Trying Hard to Impress Her
Moscow, Idaho
“Calliope Courtship- a male and female calliope hummingbird doing dazzling aerial dances using a native black hawthorn bush as a launching pad. I was out watering our flower gardens when I heard the distinctive buzzing sound that a calliope hummingbird male makes as he dives down to a female when trying to impress her. I dashed to the house to grab my camera and was fortunate enough to get a series of images of this spectacular display!”
CLOSE-UP NATIVE PLANTS AND THEIR WILDLIFE VISITORS CATEGORY RUNNER-UP
Glenda Mueller
Antheraea Polyphemus Moth
Rochester, Minnesota
“It seems you rarely ever see an Antheraea polyphemus moth, so I was thrilled to find this one in my garden.”
YOUNG HABITAT PHOTOGRAPHERS CATEGORY WINNER
Keegan Stewart
Water Flower
Melbourne, Florida
“I had been planning out this image for a very long time. I took 2 years but I finally got this image. I went outside after a storm and saw this perfect image waiting to happen. I made sure the water drop wouldn't move and then I took 2 images, one with the focus on the water drop and one with the focus point on the stem.”
YOUNG HABITAT PHOTOGRAPHERS CATEGORY RUNNER-UP
Rohan Khera
Nose to Petal: An Uinta Ground Squirrel's Gentle Curiosity
Jackson, Wyoming
“I was in the backyard of our Airbnb in Jackson Hole, WY, when I saw these little ground squirrels running around the yard and jumping into the shrubs. I rushed inside to grab my camera and when I came back, they had come closer to where I was sitting before. I then laid on the ground to get eye level with these little critters. After watching and photographing them up close for around fifteen minutes, one of them picked up a flower and held it up to his face, getting me this photo!”
