CONGRATULATIONS, KAYLEIGH YOUNG AND HOWIE WILLIAMS!
by Lindsay McNamara, Communications Manager
Earlier in 2016, Conserve Wildlife Foundation launched the “For the Love of Wildlife” Photo Contest. Our photography contest was meant to showcase the love for and need to protect the endangered and threatened wildlife that call New Jersey home. We encouraged youth and adult photographers across the Garden State to submit photographs in the following categories:
- New Jersey’s Rarest Residents: Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Wildlife Species Only
- The Garden State: New Jersey Landscapes
- Experiencing Nature: People Enjoying the Outdoors
- Wild New Jersey: All Animals in the Garden State
We were blown away by the amount of submissions we received! Over 1,470 entries were counted! New Jersey wildlife photographers, CWF board members and staff poured over the entries to choose our winners. Today, we are thrilled to announce both second place winners.
Youth Photographer: Kayleigh Young
Cresskill, New Jersey
Golden-crowned kinglet
Golden-crowned kinglet, youth second place winner Kayleigh Young.
Kayleigh was happy to share more about her image with us! She said, “after placing third in CWF’s 2015 Species on the Edge 2.0 Multimedia Contest, I was invited to join a birding trip on which I took this picture. I’ve always loved photographing wildlife, because I absolutely love nature, hiking, and the outdoors. I don’t think I can choose a single favorite species because I truly do love all animals; if I had to, I would say a fox maybe.”
Howie Williams: Adult Photographer
Oceanville, New Jersey
Mobbed Eagle
Mobbed eagle, adult second place winner Howie Williams.
Howie Williams has been photographing nature, especially raptors, for over 8 years. Peregrine falcons are his favorite bird (because of their raw speed), followed by ospreys, and eagles are a close third. Howie was hooked on photography after watching an osprey family at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) several years ago. He watched the chicks grow from when they were two weeks old to their first flight!
Howie frequents Forsythe NWR, which is where his winning photograph was taken. A juvenile eagle was sitting on an osprey nest platform. Howie heard a screech and a yell, looked up and saw another juvenile eagle fly in and land on the platform too. He took the above photograph at that moment! Howie couldn’t get both eagles in the frame. In the original shot, you can see just the talons from the other eagle, but he cropped them out for the image he submitted for our contest.
Howie is retired and spends five days a week photographing raptors. He often posts his photographs in the “visitor post” section of our Facebook page. Howie told CWF, “what’s the point of taking pictures without sharing them with people? Where’s the fun in that?”
Stay tuned as we announce the second place winners of the “For the Love of Wildlife” Photo Contest over the next few days!
Lindsay McNamara is the Communications Manager for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
The contest is made possible through a grant from