#nature-photography

#nature-photography

For five years now, Briefing readers have eagerly awaited Fridays for a chance to put their penguin-hunting skills to the test. Each week, Leif Penguinson, a Rockhopper penguin, travels to scientifically interesting (and stunning) locations across the globe to hide from our readers' keen eyes. ( Read more of Leif's origin story - and enjoy every puzzle over the first three years - in our first round-up of penguin puzzles and follow Leif's travels in 2024 in our second.) Now, you can relive each of this year's adventures with our 2025 penguin-seeking spectacular! For each puzzle, click the in-text link if you need a bigger version of the image.

The Nature's Best Photography Awards 2025 once again showcase breathtaking moments from the wild, captured across the globe. This year's winners highlight how patience and timing can transform fleeting encounters into timeless visual poetry. Steve Mattheis of the USA won the Bird Photography category with his stunning shot of Grey Crowned Cranes mid-dance, a scene he describes as "a flirtatious ballet."

The 2025 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition celebrated its 22nd year by showcasing breathtaking images that reveal the delicate beauty of the natural world. Western Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon won top honors with a mesmerizing macro shot of cauliflower soft coral, praised for its originality and use of advanced underwater technology.

He'd been shooting large-format prints of lakes in Ontario, he explains, and was trying to capture the mist that rises off their mirrored surface at dawn. "It was really the fog that interested me-much more than the lakes," he says. "The right combination of fog and morning light and the lake reflecting it all was somehow very spooky and serene at the same time."