Creative imagery, gold winner: Sprats and Bread, Ruediger Schulz, Germany. (Photo by Ruediger Schulz/2021 Bird Photographer of the Year)

A man dressed in a Halloween costume swims along the coast of the northern Lebanese city of Batroun, on October 28, 2021. (Photo by Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP Photo)

A cow is silhouetted grazing next the smoke of a chimney of an incineration plant in Lausanne at sunrise on November 19, 2021. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Photo)

A woman in Kimono poses for photos in front of mimosa and cherry blossom trees in Tokyo on March 8, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP Photo)

Bees fly in front of a beehive in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A car drives between trees in a small park in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Cars drive on an alley between rape fields in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Plumes of smoke rise from the snow covered volcano Villarrica, in Pucon, Chile on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra Escobar/Reuters)