A tern chick takes its first steps in the first decade of June 2024 at Nickerson Beach, New York, a common nesting location. (Photo by Suraj Ramamurthy/Solent News)

Climate activists of the “Last Generation” covered with mud protest in front of the Senate building in Rome, Italy, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Two bare breast activists have smeared the facade of the senate with mud, shouting the slogan: “Help us for the ecological transition”. (Photo by Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via EXPA)

A pro-Russian activist aims a pistol at supporters of the Kiev government during clashes in the streets of Odessa May 2, 2014. Police said a man was shot dead in clashes between a crowd backing Kiev and pro-Russian activists in the largely Russian-speaking southern port of Odessa, which lies west of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in March. (Photo by Yevgeny Volokin/Reuters)

A model walks the runway at the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show at Earls Court on December 2, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

Dr. Christopher Brown (R), the Director of the Ashmolean, talks with Colin Harrison, the Ashmolean's Senior Curator of European Art, in front of a painting by Edouard Manet entitled “Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus” from 1868 in the Ashmolean Museum on February 24, 2012 in Oxford, England. The painting has been sold to a foreign buyer for 28.35 million GBP, however the Government has extended a temporary export bar on the artwork until August to give the Ashmolean an opportunity to raise funds to retain the painting in the UK. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Members of contemporary circus group perform inside the subway train, amid the energy crisis in Prague, Czech Republic on March 2, 2023. (Photo by David W. Cerny/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)

An Afghan man rushes to the target with his horse as a Taliban fighter stands guard during a spear racing in the sprawling Chaman-e-Huzori park in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, May 6, 2022. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)