Black-browed albatrosses and southern rockhopper penguins
STEEPLE JASON, FALKLAND ISLANDS
Albatrosses roost by the sea, sharing the grassy incline with penguins. While these albatrosses sit on their nests, warming and protecting their chicks, their partners soar above the ocean, swooping down to catch prey. The birds winter on the Patagonian Shelf and in estuaries in Argentina, and return to the same colony. To reach this remote location, Wilkes made his way through a phalanx of angry striated caracaras. Standing on a mound of tussac grass for a better vantage, he took 926 photos in 26 hours, using about 80 to make this image.
PHOTOGRAPHED WITH PERMISSION OF THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY
Photo by Stephen Wilkes/National Geographic

Stephen Wilkes in the Field. Photograph by Chris Janjic.

Lesser flamingos
LAKE BOGORIA, KENYA
The lesser flamingos of Africa’s Great Rift Valley thrive in the extreme environment of high-altitude soda lakes, feeding on algal blooms that are toxic to many other creatures. The birds are not migratory but nomadic, traveling from one lake to another, wherever food is plentiful. Wilkes shot 1,742 photos over 36 hours from a 30-foot scaffolding wrapped in camouflage, capturing the endless movements of the flamingos and the marabou storks stalking them. He chose about 30 for this image.
Photo by Stephen Wilkes/National Geographic