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Skimming the surface

Beverly Peterson Stearns

United States of America

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Like a jade pendant, this chrysalis  is the jewel case from which an exquisite Monarch butterfly will emerge.

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Nominee

Monarch chrysalis, Day 3

On the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan war, a man continues to search for relatives.

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Searching

The I'iwi, one of Hawaii's native honeycreepers, is gently banded and checked for disease and parasites by a field researcher at the Hakalau Forest Refuge. Once common in the islands, it is now threatened by mosquito-borne malaria and loss of habitat.

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Threatened beauty

A Mobula ray glides through the Sea of Cortes, one of its key migration routes.

Bronze

A child tries to catch the rays of the sun pouring through the star-shaped openings in the roof of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. She ignores Rodin's "Walking Man, on a Column" and the ancient text on the nearby stone.