Patrick Twells, Crowning Glory (ANIMAL 2024)

Early morning and as the sun was rising, a muster of peacocks were roaming freely just a few minutes drive from my house. This one was more interested in finding food than in me taking photos and after some hide and seek, allowed me to get near enough to capture it taking in the sunshine. At one point it jumped onto a wooden railing, the sun highlighting it's many coloured feathers. At this time of year they are only just regrowing their tail feathers which can be seen starting to show, but even without them these birds are stunning and their crown is exquisite.

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