Ian Shultz, Eastside Audubon's Youth Board Member, has won the Youth category in the U.S. and Canada contest of the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards.
His subject was a Rock Pigeon.
Ian Shultz’s award-winning Rock Pigeon, photographed at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle. Photo © Ian Shultz.
The Woodinville-area high school student had often accompanied his father on paddleboarding trips to Puget Sound, photographing waterbirds along the shore. Pigeons were usually not on his list. Then one morning at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, he watched Rock Pigeons swoop beneath an old pier to collect nesting material and bank back underneath, wings flared and tails fanned as they braked for landing. When sunlight caught one bird's feathers, Shultz positioned himself on the boulders below the pier and waited.
Judge Sadie Hine singled out his "creative use of light." The precisely timed image, subtle background textures and warm tones, she wrote, transformed an overlooked species into a striking subject.
Shultz captured the photograph with a Canon EOS Rebel SL2 and a 75-300mm lens—relatively modest photographic equipment. The rest was patience and timing.
"Even common birds can produce the day's most striking image," Shultz said.
The National Audubon Society announced the winners on September 2. The awards encompass two parallel contests: one for photographers and videographers in the United States and Canada and another for those in Chile and Colombia. This is the second year the competition has included Chile and Colombia.
The Grand Prize in the U.S. and Canada contest went to Jacqueline Burke for her photograph of a bathing Roseate Spoonbill in Florida.
Shultz joined the Eastside Audubon board this spring. He has photographed birds for six years. By his own count, he has documented more than 90 species and taken more than 25,000 photographs across the Pacific Northwest.
Last summer, Shultz was one of just 16 students selected globally to attend the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Young Birders Event. The four-day program at Cornell gave participants hands-on learning opportunities, career exploration and time in the field birding with other young naturalists.
"We are so proud to have Ian as our Youth Board Member," said John Spilker, president of Eastside Audubon. "His talents are immense, and his energy is unbelievable."
Audubon will announce the contest's Top 100 images on September 23. The full slate of winners, including Shultz's photograph, is in Audubon's announcement of the 2026 winners.