Bird Photographer of the Year 2025 – Bronze Award (Bird Behavior)

Swollen Chest

When a male Asian houbara (also known as Macqueen’s bustard) performs his courtship dance, he puffs out his beautiful white breast feathers and starts running around, usually in a prominent place—all in order to attract a mate. This bustard is normally very shy and difficult to see due to its wonderfully cryptic plumage. For this reason, the best time to photograph these birds is during the breeding season when the males are displaying. For many years I have dreamed of photographing a bustard dancing in the desert and finally, with a lot of patience and a stroke of luck, I managed to approach one slowly until I got close enough to capture him strutting his stuff. The center of the Negev, Israel.