A killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) chick on sand dunes in Pacific Grove, California, US on June 21, 2023. The killdeer gets its name from its shrill, loud call. (Photo by Rory Merry/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A pigeon stretches its wings in the Ka Faroshi bird market in Kabul on July 16, 2022. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

Standalone picture dated June 7th, 2022 shows Flt Lt Adam O’Hare rehearsing in the iconic Typhoon plane over Lincolnshire yesterday (Tues) as he trains for this summers airshows with vapour trails over the wing. The phenomenon is caused by low pressure areas created on the aircraft's skin and wings as it moves through moist air. As the pressure drops so does the temperature, and if the temperature reaches the saturation point, water vapor is created. (Photo by Claire Hartley/Bav Media)

A cygnet keeps snug under its mother’s wing at Heronry Pond in Wanstead Park in east London in the last decade of May 2024. (Photo by Jeff Moore/The Times)

Black Winged Stilt is seen on Kavak Delta, a natural and ecologically important wetland for many migratory birds, in Canakkale, Turkiye on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Alper Tuydes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Camels kick up clouds of sand as they race down a steep dune. The camels can reach speeds of up to 40 kilometres per hour as they descend the ten-metre tall dunes on April 20, 2022. The photos were taken by photographer Qian Guo in Naiman Banner, near the city of Tongliao in the Inner Mongolia region of northeastern China. The 58 year old said: “These are local Mongolian farmers, and two of them are a father and a son. They have more than ten camels which they farm and train”. (Photo by Qian Guo/Solent News & Photo Agency)

In this undated photo made available by journal Nature on January 15, 2014, a northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) flies in Tuscany, Italy. A new study released Wednesday, January 15, 2014 says the birds choreograph the flapping of their wings, getting a boost from an updraft of air in the wake of the flapping wings by flying behind the first bird and off to the side. When a flock of birds take advantage of these aerodynamics, they form a V. (Photo by Markus Unsöld/AP Photo)