Macaulay Library’s Best Bird Photos 2026

Birders around the world have contributed more than 81 million photos to our Macaulay Library archive. Here are some of the best from the past year.

Featuring 37 photographers. Photo selections and text by Macaulay Library and Living Bird staff.

December 23, 2025

Purple Sandpiper by Maceo Susi / Macaulay Library.

Birders around the world have contributed more than 81 million photos to our Macaulay Library archive. Here are some of the best from the past year.

From the Winter 2026 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now. If you like this photo essay, you’ll also enjoy last year’s Best of Macaulay essay.

Bird, Watching

More than 30,000 photographers have contributed images to the Macaulay Library through their eBird checklists. Sometimes a photographer finds a bird staring right back at the camera, such as when photographer Toby Carter caught the intense glare of a young Osprey about to be released during a licensed banding session on the coast of northern England. Osprey and other predatory birds (such as jaegers, Shoebills, owls, herons, and eagles) have forward-facing eyes, an adaptation for zeroing in on prey.

At the other end of the spectrum, the American Woodcock’s eyes are set so far back on its head that you can see both eyes from behind, as in the photo by Karim Bouzidi below. It’s as if the bird is staring directly at you while facing the other direction. This adaptation gives the ground-dwelling woodcock the ability to spot predators coming from nearly any direction.

A brown bird with streaked feathers perched on a branch, staring forward — *Brown Boobook in India by* *Rejaul Karim / Macaulay Library.*

an odd looking highly camouflaged bird with large eyes on the sides of its head — *Brown Boobook in India by* *Rejaul Karim / Macaulay Library.*

Brown and white bird with vivid yellow eyes shown in a close-up view. — *Osprey in the United Kingdom by Toby Carter / Macaulay Library.*

Gray and brown bird with bright orange eyes staring into the camera. — *Osprey in the United Kingdom by Toby Carter / Macaulay Library.*

Black-and-white bird perched on a branch with bright yellow eyes and orange around the beak. — *Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle in Peru by Andrés Paniagua / Macaulay Library.*

Large gray bird with a massive bill looking at the camera with its head tilted. — *Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle in Peru by Andrés Paniagua / Macaulay Library.*

an elephant walking through a field of yellow flowers with small white birds perched on its head — *African savanna elephant and Yellow-billed Egrets in Tanzania by Su Li / Macaulay Library.*

More Than Birds

In 2025 the Macaulay Library and eBird began accepting non-avian photos and sounds, which opened the door to a wider array of wildlife—from seals to salamanders to cape buffalo. Because Macaulay Library media train the AI capabilities of Merlin, the Cornell Lab’s smartphone bird ID app, the addition of non-avian images and sound recordings will improve the app’s ability to distinguish birds and bird sounds within their environments. A richer collection of wildlife media also makes the archive even more valuable for scientific research.

A small brown bird perched on the back of a buffalo. — *Yellow-billed Oxpecker in Kenya by Nathan Mixon / Macaulay Library.*

A black-and-orange butterfly flying above a black-and-orange bird on a pine branch. — *Yellow-billed Oxpecker in Kenya by Nathan Mixon / Macaulay Library.*

A black bird standing on a sheep’s head. — *Eurasian Jackdaw in Türkiye by Soner Sabirli / Macaulay Library.*

A seal looking up with its tongue sticking out. — *Eurasian Jackdaw in Türkiye by Soner Sabirli / Macaulay Library.*

a person standing on a small boat feeding a large white bird — *White Stork in Türkiye by Alper Tüydeş / Macaulay Library.*

Dreamy Visages

Out of the tens of millions of photos in the Macaulay Library archive, there are a few with dreamlike compositions—a bird photographed in low light, or in motion over dark waters. The resulting surreal images are testament to the photographer’s technical skills and creative vision. For example, photographer Samuel Galick happened upon a Chuck-will’s-widow perched at the end of his driveway in southern New Jersey after sundown. By using the onset of evening to his advantage, he was able to capture the ethereal form of the nightjar silhouetted against a rising moon.

Yellow-bellied bird perched on a log with colorful blurred lights in the background. — *Cattle Tyrant in Texas by Hannah Criswell /Macaulay Library.*

Bird shown in dark silhouette in front of a full moon. — *Cattle Tyrant in Texas by Hannah Criswell /Macaulay Library.*

Blue and black bird perched against a dark background. — *Steller’s Jay in Colorado by Brian Genge / Macaulay Library.*

Two birds floating on misty orange water at sunrise. — *Steller’s Jay in Colorado by Brian Genge / Macaulay Library.*

Brown bird perched on a cactus branch in low light. — *Lesser Horned Owl in Chile by Francisco Castro Escobar / Macaulay Library.*

Dark bird standing on a gravestone in a foggy cemetery. — *Lesser Horned Owl in Chile by Francisco Castro Escobar / Macaulay Library.*

a group of cranes at a riverbed — *Red-crowned Crane in Japan by u7 Liao / Macaulay Library.*

Birds and Places

Another expansion of the Macaulay Library and eBird in 2025 allowed photographers to submit images of places, whether or not birds are included. The place-based images provide meaningful information to scientists about habitat conditions, and they provide a way for birders to preserve memorable landscapes in their eBird checklists. Sometimes an iconic bird and landscape align in the camera’s viewfinder, such as Rain Saulnier’s portrait of Atlantic Puffins amidst Newfoundland’s rocky coastline.

An elephant standing beside a large tree in a grassy landscape with mountains in the background. — *Elephant and baobab in Tanzania by Andres Vasquez Noboa / Macaulay Library.*

Three puffins standing on grassy coastal rocks beside the ocean. — *Elephant and baobab in Tanzania by Andres Vasquez Noboa / Macaulay Library.*

Mountain trail lined with green shrubs under a cloudy sky. — *Tatra National Park in Poland by Alexander Hagge / Macaulay Library.*

A duck swimming on calm water with city lights blurred in the background. — *Tatra National Park in Poland by Alexander Hagge / Macaulay Library.*

Rocky terrain covered with low shrubs and moss. — *Mountain habitat in Arunachal Pradesh, India*, *by Sunil Kini / Macaulay Library.*

Iceberg floating on the ocean at sunset with an orange sky. — *Mountain habitat in Arunachal Pradesh, India*, *by Sunil Kini / Macaulay Library.*

a small bird perched on a tree and looking out against a snow background — *White-breasted Nuthatch in Colorado by Hannah Criswell / Macaulay Library.*

Snowbirds

Some hardy contributors to the Macaulay Library have braved snow and ice to produce photos that document how birds survive and thrive in cold, harsh conditions—such as the aptly named snowfinch foraging high in the Bernese Alps, or a pair of ravens at rest atop a snowbank in the Canadian Rockies. The Common Raven’s large, sturdy bill is well suited for breaking through frozen food items for sustenance in deep winter.

Two black birds perched on a snowy ledge. — *Common Raven in Alberta by Cameron Hunter / Macaulay Library.*

Three penguins standing on snowy ice near the water. — *Common Raven in Alberta by Cameron Hunter / Macaulay Library.*

Brown and gray bird perched on a branch during snowfall. — *Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch in New Mexico by Tommy Childers / Macaulay Library.*

Brown streaked bird in mid-flight above snow-covered plants. — *Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch in New Mexico by Tommy Childers / Macaulay Library.*

Thank You

As 2025 comes to a close, the Macaulay Library wants to extend sincere thanks to everyone who contributed photos, sounds, and videos to the Macaulay Library this year. Together, you’ve helped build the world’s premiere archive of wildlife media, each image and recording capturing a memory of a bird and an experience in nature. Your contributions help scientists study migration and behavior, help educators inspire curiosity, and enable birders everywhere to experience the beauty of species they may never see in person. Most importantly, they tell a global story of birders’ care, curiosity, and hope for the natural world.

Thank you for helping the Macaulay Library grow, one eBird checklist, one sound, one photo at a time. We can’t wait to see what moments you’ll share in 2026 as we continue to celebrate the birds that connect us all.