Page 79 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11

SILENT SKIRMISH
MICHEL D’OULTREMONT, BELGIUM
Winner, Rising Star

Two short-eared owls
squabble over a mouse in
Cambrai, northern France.
This owl’s mottled plumage
usually camouflages it against
vegetation, so Michel waited
eight days for snow to use
as a backdrop. As the owls
showed of their aerial agility,
he focused on their piercing
yellow eyes, framed in black.
He got his picture, but neither
owl got its meal: “The mouse
fell and escaped alive.”

BEE ON GUARD
JAVIER AZNAR
GONZÁLEZ DE RUEDA, SPAIN
Winner, Portfolio
This stingless bee in Napo,
in the Ecuadorian Amazon,
confronted Javier head on,
beating its wings rapidly to
warn him away from its wards:
treehopper nymphs, which
rewarded their bodyguard with
nutritious drops of honeydew.

November 2018 BBC Wildlife 79