Surfing penguins, nesting kestrels and preening swans are among the scenes celebrated in this year's Bird Photographer of the ...

Still, there is the reassuring uplift of fairy tales like Hans Christian Andersen's duckling turned swan, with its metamorphosis from plain to princely. Bittersweet, these beautiful birds.

Ancient Egyptians celebrated the swan’s beauty, and the history of art is littered with pictures of ravishingly beautiful birds; even Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci had a go. Today the ...