Canadian Geographic has announced the finalists and winners of its 2026 Canadian Wildlife Photography of the Year competition, showcasing some of the most remarkable wildlife images captured by Canadian photographers. With more than 10,000 entries submitted, 18 photographers were recognized across four categories: Terrestrial Life, Aquatic Life, Flora and Fungi, and Things With Wings.
The competition celebrates the incredible diversity of Canada’s wildlife and landscapes, from a mink caught mid-jump to an unusual sandworm swimming through the St. Lawrence Estuary. Among this year’s honourees is David Sturge of Paradise, N.L., who was named the 2026 Canadian Wildlife Photographer of the Year and will begin a two-year term as an Audain Emerging Photographer-in-Residence with Canadian Geographic.
Below, we’ve gathered the finalist images from this year’s competition. Scroll down to see the wildlife moments that impressed the judges this year.
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#1 Canadian Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: David Sturge
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#2 Terrestrial Life, Honourable Mention: Andrew Waterhouse
A family of raccoons peeks out from the hollow of a tree in St. Thomas, Ont.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#3 Aquatic Life, Runner-Up: Yagnesh Mangukiya
A pair of red-necked grebes in Toronto’s Colonel Samuel Smith Park performs an elaborate mating ritual involving synchronized swimming and loud vocalizations.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#4 Canadian Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: David Sturge
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#5 Flora And Fungi, Runner-Up: John Deal
A great sundew at Echo Lake on Vancouver Island, B.C. Sundews are carnivorous; insects are attracted to their sugary scent, then trapped by the sticky drops on the plant’s leaves, which bend around their prey to facilitate digestion.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#6 Things With Wings, Runner-Up: Hugues De Millville
A split-second capture freezes the moment a startled ruffed grouse rockets out of a tree in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ont.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#7 Aquatic Life, Honourable Mention: Eli Wolpin
A giant Pacific octopus rests amid the kelp forest in Browning Pass, Port Hardy, B.C.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#8 Aquatic Life, Winner : Jean-Christophe Lemay
A sandworm (Alitta virens) swims in the St. Lawrence Estuary in Rimouski, Que. Sandworms spend most of their lives in burrows in the seafloor, emerging only to eat, but during their spring mating season, males become colourful and swim to the surface to fertilize the females’ eggs.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#9 Canadian Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: David Sturge
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#10 Terrestrial Life, Honourable Mention: Liron Gertsman
Grizzly bear siblings playfight during a burst of heavy rain in B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#11 Terrestrial Life, Runner-Up: Chris Gibbs
Black bear cubs warily eye their surroundings while following their mother through Waterton Lakes National Park, Alta.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#12 Canadian Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: David Sturge
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#13 Terrestrial Life, Winner: Steven Marriott
An American mink makes a dash toward the camera after caching some prey in the brush at Lynde Shores Conservation Area in Whitby, Ont.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#14 Aquatic Life, Honourable Mention: Dalin Laqua
A black-bellied plover rises above the surface of Frank Lake, near High River, Alta.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#15 Aquatic Life, Honourable Mention: Jack Medeiros
A solitary sandpiper fuels up for its fall migrations at Lemoine Point Conservation Area in Kingston, Ont.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#16 Flora And Fungi, Honourable Mention: Tyler Cave
Sunlight filters through the lichens dangling over Khutzeymateen Inlet, B.C.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#17 Flora And Fungi, Winner: Anthony Zerafa
Scheuchzer’s cottongrass (Eriophorum scheuchzeri) — known in the North Baffin dialect of Inuktitut as kanguujat (“what looks like snow geese”) — on the shore of Colour Lake on Axel Heiberg Island (Umingmat Nunaat), Nunavut.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#18 Things With Wings, Honourable Mention: Shane Turgeon
Sharp-tailed grouse battle it out for the attention of a potential mate at a traditional lek (mating ground) near Wainwright, Alta.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#19 Things With Wings, Runner-Up: Natasha Grapes
A sandhill crane preens its feathers at Burnaby Lake in Burnaby, B.C.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#20 Things With Wings, Winner: Jon Behuniak
The photographer was searching for native bees to photograph in his backyard in Asquith, Sask. when he noticed this thick-headed fly (Myopa clausa) on a raspberry cane. These flies tend to hang out where they can find hosts — namely bees and wasps — for their parasitic larvae.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#21 Canadian Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: David Sturge
Image source: Canadian Geographic
#22 Flora And Fungi, Honourable Mention: Rob Gubiani
Warm spring sunlight illuminates a pasqueflower — commonly known as a prairie crocus — at Cranberry Flats Conservation Area in Saskatoon. The emergence of these blooms is an annual sign that spring has arrived.
Image source: Canadian Geographic
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