Yellow Wagtail

Threatened bird photo competition

A wide range of great prizes to be won for the top images

A new competition has just been launched, aimed at compiling photographs of the world’s most threatened bird species, with a wide range of fabulous prizes to be won by the very best images.

The World’s Rarest Birds is the successor to the Rare Birds Yearbook, which highlighted the Critically Endangered species and was published in 2007 and 2008. The publication aims to cover the 362 Endangered and 65 Data Deficient species in addition to the 192 that are Critically Endangered and four species now found only in captivity.

Due to be published by WILDGuides in 2011, The World’s Rarest Birds will feature hundreds of photos taken by bird photographers and ornithologists from across the world, selected from the entries into an international photo competition.

Contributors have a chance of winning attractive prizes in the The World's Rarest Birds Photo Competition. Entry to the competition is free, and anyone is welcome and encouraged to submit their images. Prizes have been generously donated by the main sponsors, Minox and L ynx Edicions.

There are two categories in the competition:

*Birds that are listed as Critically Endangered or Extinct in the Wild; and
*Birds that are listed as Endangered or Data Deficient.

There will be prizes for each category and the competition will be judged by a specially selected expert panel of renowned ornithologists, photographers and artists. The criteria used to determine the winning entries will be: image quality, rarity and aesthetics.

All contributors whose images are published will receive a free copy of the The World's Rarest Birds and are eligible to buy additional copies for family and friends at a discounted rate. Profits from sales of the book will go to BirdLife International's Preventing Extinctions project, helping to save the birds that actually appear in the book.

Dont forget to add all of your images into your free chatterbirds account to share with our community.

For further details about the book and the competition, go to: www.theworldsrarestbirds.com