I photographed this group of frigatebirds as they flew overhead in a small town in the Sinaloa province on the west coast of Mexico. Using a wide angle lens, I framed them in front of a stunning 22-degree halo in the sky. These halos form when light is refracted by millions of tiny ice crystals in the atmosphere, which often happens when there are high-altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. I utilized a small aperture of f/16 to ensure both the frigatebirds and the sky would be sharp, and to get a “starburst” effect on the sun at the middle of the frame. This image was awarded the Grand Prize of the 2025 Audubon Photography Awards!