From Digital Camera World · · 1m 40s
A retired doctor's frozen duck shot just won Audubon
Gail Bisson nearly quit the cold sandbar 30 minutes early, and walked into the frame of the year.
In brief
Gail Bisson nearly quit the cold sandbar 30 minutes early, and walked into the frame of the year. The shot that wins is the one you're still carrying when you think the day is over. Originally reported by Digital Camera World.
From medicine to birds
Gail Bisson retired as a doctor and made bird photography the new job. She has shot her way around the world since, piling up international awards.
The winning frame
Her shot of a female Common Merganser flying with a flatfish clamped in her beak took the Female Bird Prize in the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards.
She almost left
East Bay Sandbar, Nova Scotia, on a brutally cold winter day. The ducks were still, and after half an hour Bisson gave up and headed for the car to warm her hands.
“The ducks were not very active, and after 30 minutes I decided to go warm up in the car.”
The one break in routine
She normally leaves the camera out on the ice during breaks. This time she carried it with her, and the merganser lifted off just as she reached the car.
“Thank goodness I did”
Sharp, against the odds
Shot on a Canon EOS R5 Mark II with a 600mm f/4 at 1/2500sec, f/6.3, ISO 640. She fired in a hurry and feared she had missed focus.
“I was thrilled to snap this frame, but I worried it wouldn't be tack sharp. It was!”
Why she flew at all
Mergansers are among the few ducks that hunt fish, diving with long slim bills. They usually swallow a catch headfirst on the spot, unless the flock closes in to steal it.
What the judges saw
Judge Jess Gorzo read it as a field guide portrait and an action shot at once, lit by snow and ice, equal parts luck and skill.
“This felt like a portrait fit for a field guide illustration, while at the same time an extraordinary action shot”
The headline
The shot that wins is the one you're still carrying when you think the day is over.
