Bloodthirsty by Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa — winner, Behaviour: birds. When rations run short on Wolf Island, in the remote northern Galápagos, the sharp-beaked ground finches become vampires. Their sitting targets are Nazca boobies and other large birds. The finches rely on a scant diet of seeds and insects, which regularly dries up, so they drink blood to survive. ‘I’ve seen more than half a dozen finches drinking from a single Nazca booby,’ says Tom. Rather than leave their nests the boobies tolerate the vampires, and the blood loss doesn’t seem to cause permanent harm. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak/2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Revelers pose before the start of the Los Angeles Pride parade on June 9, 2019 in West Hollywood, California. The 49th annual parade, celebrating LGBTQ identity, drew thousands to the streets of West Hollywood. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

People take part in the Festival of Colors at Asanbai Park in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 27 May 2023. The festival brings together young people sprinkling each other with colored powder to pay homage to India's traditional Holi festival. (Photo by Igor Kovalenko/EPA/EFE)

A TV journalist reports next to a life-size cutout of Pope Francis outside the Catholic Nunciature before the pontiff arrives in Mexico City, Friday, February 12, 2016. Pope Francis is arriving in Mexico on Friday for a week-long visit. (Photo by Christian Palma/AP Photo)

Alex Plunkett, left, and Sean Hart, both of Arlington, Va., join hundreds participating in the annual International Pillow Fight Day on April 5. Massive pillow fights broke out on the Mall in Washington and in cities around the world. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

A performer dances in the Chinese New Year parade in Sydney on February 17, 2013. The parade featured more than 3,500 performers from Australia and China, including 120 performers from Shenzhen, Sydney's offical partner city for this year's festival. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

U.S. Park Police work to keep people away from the area surrounding the Washington Monument after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the east coast August 23, 2011 in Washington, DC. Police officers said that unidentified material had fallen off the Washington Monument as a result of the earthquake. All the monuments and buildings along the National Mall have been evacuated and closed. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)