Jason Harris, Birds of Peace and Love (ANIMAL 2025)

The true magic about taking images of nature is that from day to day you never know what you are going to see. I ventured down to my local open space which has a number of flourishing trees for birds to feed on. As I was walking through looking for things to capture I heard a rustling noise coming from above. While there was nothing uncommon about that, what did capture my immediate attention was seeing two Spotted Doves in the act of mating. The fact that I was there at that specific time gave me a real buzz and I moved around looking for the best vantage point to capture the moment. The pair were oblivious to my presence, but I made sure I did not get too close to spook them in any way. Here’s hoping the little Spotted Dove offspring that came about from that mating session go on to live long and happy lives.

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