2024 Edition

Mehdi Mohebi Pour

The Bitter Death of Birds

Dead pink flamingos in the Miankaleh lagoon, Iran, 2021

Category - Humanity Versus Nature

The Bitter Death of Birds

Over a two-year period, tens of thousands of migratory birds died in a wetland in the north of Iran for unknown reasons. Here we see three pink flamingos floating in the Miankaleh lagoon, one of the twelve Iranian regions designated as UNESCO International Biosphere Reserves. I wanted to share this photo with the whole world to draw attention to the tragic fate of these animals and to the state of these wetlands, which are bearing the full brunt of climate change and the impact of destructive human activity. As you can see from the image, these situations have a mobilising effect, and here we see the efforts of two environmental activists to collect the bodies and prevent the spread of the disease.

12-24 mm f/4.5-5.6 Lens - 1/320 sec at f/4.5 ISO 100