Winning photos from the 2021 ROM Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest

Location: Cook's Bay, Lake Simcoe, Ont. Terns are mostly at home in the wind. They are agile flyers, hovering and diving for fish and invertebrates near the water surface. Forster's Terns spend the breeding season hunting for food in marshes and other open shallow bodies of water. The judges loved this photo because it is more than just a picture of a tern—the movements of the reeds in the foreground create the feeling of wind and brings the scene to life.

Location: Jock River, Ottawa, Ont. Great Blue Herons are large birds and can be difficult to compose into a pleasing image. The low level, vertical perspective, and strong composition work well together to create a strong image.

Location: Niagara, Ont. Owls have become the "poster child" for ethical wildlife photography recently so the judges were thrilled to see a wonderful photograph of an owl sleeping with no sign of disturbance. The use of a long lens and shallow depth of field give a dream-like quality mirroring the owl's behaviour.

Location: Riverwood Conservancy, Mississauga, Ont. The judges admired the preplanning and vision in the making of this raccoon photograph. Camera traps allow photographers to plan their image in advance, but to be successful you must determine the composition and lighting prior to the arrival of the subject on scene. In this case, the position of the raccoon, the graffiti, and the lighting of the culvert work together beautifully to tell the story of urban wildlife in the city.

Location: Sarapiqui, Costa Rica A strong well composed image. Although simple in its structure, the dark background and composition draws your view into the image and directly to the frog which seems to stare back at you unconcerned.

Location: Oshawa, Ont. In your face and unexpected! A good macro photograph allows the viewer into a world seldom seen and this one has it all. By stacking the five images together the face of the damselfly is fully in focus and pops out of the black background revealing incredible detail and beauty.