Changing Exhibition

Bird Photographer of the Year

New exhibition features 70 award-winning images of our feathered friends captured by amateur and professional photographers from around the globe.

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Open today from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

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Opening March 7, 2026

The museum takes flight this spring with the opening of the new exhibition, Bird Photographer of the Year. The exhibition features 70 award-winning images captured by amateur and professional photographers from around the globe. Guests are invited to explore the beauty and natural wonder of birds through these stunning images and to learn more about birds found in our own state.

Bird Photographer of the Year is an international competition and acclaimed traveling exhibition. In 2025, the competition received more than 25,000 submissions from photographers in 115 countries, across 12 categories for both adults and youth. The images showcase birds in a wide range of habitats, revealing breathtaking moments set against striking and sometimes unexpected backdrops.

Canadian photographer Liron Gertsman was named Grand Prize Winner for his atmospheric image taken in Mexico, while 16-year-old Tomasz Michalski of Poland earned the title of Young Bird Photographer of the Year for his striking silhouette of a black vulture.

Exhibition entrance is included with museum general attendance or membership.

A large brown eagle with outstretched wings perches on a log, its sharp yellow talons gripping the wood. The bird’s hooked beak is slightly open, and its feathers are layered in shades of brown and cream against a plain light background.

Members

Member Preview Night | Birds Exhibitions Opening

Fri., March 6, 2026 | State Museum members are invited to an evening preview of two new exhibitions all about our feathered friends.

Illustration of several Carolina parakeets perched closely together on thin tree branches. The birds have green bodies, yellow heads, and orange faces, with long tapered tails and dark wings edged in blue. Some cling upright to the branches while others hang upside down, surrounded by dried leaves and seed pods in a detailed natural setting.

Family & Kids

Flock Fest

Sat., March 21, 2026 | The State Museum takes flight with Flock Fest! Enjoy hands-on activities, gallery tours, birding opportunities, and more on the special day full of feathered fun.

South Carolina Wings of Wonder

Opens March 7, 2026 | Explore the diversity of South Carolina birds in this exhibition, which features specimens and objects from the museum’s extensive natural history collection.

Learn more about this fascinating exhibition

About Bird Photographer of the Year

Bird Photographer of the Year has conservation at its heart. This year, the competition donated more than £5,000to partner charity Birds on the Brink, which provides vital funding to grass-roots bird conservation projects around the world. (www.birdsonthebrink.co.uk)

Photographers competed in 8 different categories in the adult competition: Best Portrait, Birds in the Environment, Bird Behaviour, Birds in Flight, Black and White, Urban Birds, Conservation (Single Image), and Creative Perspectives. There was also a Conservation Award, Portfolio Award, and Video Award.

All awarded images are published by Princeton University Press in a hard-back coffee-table book, which is now available online at birdpoty.com. Foreword by naturalist and presenter Nigel Marven (HB, £35).

The 2026 competition is now open for entries at birdpoty.com, and invites photographers of all experience levels to submit their best bird photos.