Lucas Bustamante
Penguin feast
Brown Skuas, Antarctica, 2023
Category - Polar Regions
Migratory seabirds, the brown skua, or Antarctic skua (Stercorarius antarcticus), and McCormick’s skua (Stercorarius maccormicki), nest in colonies on snow-free, rocky shores in Antarctica during their breeding season. While they feed primarily on fish and krill, they also prey on the eggs and chicks of other seabirds, particularly penguins, when these birds nest on the mainland from October to March. With their sharp, hawklike beaks and small talons on the tips of their webbed feet, they are formidable predators. In this photo, two brown skuas are fighting over a penguin chick that was snatched while still alive from its colony.
RUNNER-UP
600 mm f/5.6-6.3 Lens - 1/1250 sec at f/10 ISO 2000