Wakodahatchee wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida, US. Equipped with sinewy necks and spear-like bills, great blue herons can lunge with fearsome speed to strike their aquatic prey. Adults will also employ rapid stabbing motions as one aspect of their complex courtship displays; they’re seemingly dangerous moves, but fitting to the intensity of mating season. (Photo by Melissa Rowell/Audubon Photography Awards)

These images show off some of the world's most majestic creatures silhouetted against the beautiful rising and setting sun. The vibrant pictures feature a variety of animals in the wild and were taken by a host of photographers at locations around the world. The striking images all have one thing in common: the photographers' awe-inspiring ability to perfectly capture the silhouettes of earth's beautiful creatures. Here: a blue wildebeest moves through grassland at dawn with the sun in the background in Mara Naboisho Conservancy, Kenya, Africa. (Photo by Renato Granieri/Caters News/Ardea)

Vanessa Silva, 38, feeds macaws that fly to her apartment window every day looking for food, in Caracas, Venezuela, on November 24, 2014. A group of gold-and-royal blue birds poked their heads through Silva’s window, as if saying “I’m here, is anyone home?” “I’d seen them flying when I was down on the street, and I thought ‘Oh how pretty,’” the 38-year-old said, a macaw eating out of her hand. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania). At 610m deep and 260 sq km, this is the largest unflooded caldera in the world. A blue-green vision from above it's a haven for engangered wildlife and Maasai livestock. The crater was formed three million years ago when a giant volcano, which could have been as high as Kilimanjaro, exploded and collapsed. The caldera formed the concentric fractures in the crust cracked down to a magma reservoir deep underground. (Photo by John Bryant/Getty Images)

“The Pugs of Westeros” sees Roxy, Blue and Bono playing doggy versions of the main characters, including conniving King Joffrey. The pugs’ owners, Phillip Lauer (57) and his wife Sue (47), have been dressing their pugs up as characters from cinema and TV since they were puppies. They jumped at the chance of creating a picture series based on one of their favourite shows. Sue spent two weeks just creating the Iron Throne alone but it was well worth it. (Photo by Phillip Lauer)

Vivid colors and bizarre shapes come together in a false-color image that could be an illustration for a fantasy story. This labyrinth of exotic features winds its way along the edge of Russia’s Chaunskaya Bay in northeastern Siberia, seen as a vivid blue half-circle at the bottom of the image Two major rivers, the Chaun and Palyavaam, flow into the bay, which in turn opens into the Arctic Ocean. Ribbon lakes and bogs are present throughout the area, created by depressions left by receding glaciers. (Photo by USGS/NASA)

“In a nutshell and to prevent my english readers from experiencing eye bleeding after having read too many syntax errors, I’m a french journalist – I work as an editor, not as photographer – who happens to be nuts about photography. Being the happy owner of too many Leica M for a man to shoot, I spend most of my free time shooting my friend and my town, Strasbourg, in b&w and sometimes in colors”. – Manuel Plantin

Photo: “Even detectives got the blues”. Strasbourg, 2011 (Photo by Manuel Plantin)