SILENT SKIRMISH

MICHEL D’OULTREMONT, BELGIUM Winner, Rising Star

Two short-eared owls squabble over a mouse in Cambrai, northern France. This owl’s mottled plumage usually camouflages it against vegetation, so Michel waited eight days for snow to use as a backdrop. As the owls showed off their aerial agility, he focused on their piercing yellow eyes, framed in black. He got his picture, but neither owl got its meal: “The mouse fell and escaped alive.”