Samara Achermann, A Vulnerable Colony (ANIMAL 2025)

I spent a few weeks at the beginning of the year photographing this colony of Fairy Terns on the Western Australian coastline. I watched the way they try to survive at their tiny size, particularly the new chicks of which stayed under any cover they could find until their parents came back with food. Flooding, predation and habitat loss are just a few of the factors that make them a vulnerable species.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.