Squirrels are seen on a tree branch at a park as temperatures rise with the arrival of spring season in Ankara, Turkiye on March 27, 2024. (Photo by Evrim Aydin/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Residents walk past a burnt car blocking the street as they evacuate the Delmas 22 neighborhood the morning after an attack amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 2, 2024. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

UK Love Island’s star Maura Higgins, 30, stuns as she poses in revealing outfits in her latest photoshoot with brand Ego in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in April 2021. (Photo by EGO)

An adult black-rumped flameback woodpecker is pestered by a pair of hungry chicks in Rajarhat, India in the second decade of May 2024. (Photo by Kalyan Acharya/Solent News)

A vervet monkey passes in front of a woman on the shores of lake Naivasha, Kenya January 24, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

A giant Uncle Sam balloon is marched down 6th Avenue during the 87th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday, November 28, 2013, in New York. After fears the balloons could be grounded if sustained winds exceeded 23 mph, Snoopy, Spider-Man and the rest of the iconic balloons received the all-clear from the New York Police Department to fly between Manhattan skyscrapers on Thursday. (Photo by John Minchillo/AP Photo)

A worker inspects the Christ the Redeemer statue which was damaged during lightning storms in Rio de Janeiro January 21, 2014. (Photo by Severino Silva/Reuters/Agência o Dia)