What do an eagle, a mandrill and a proud mother have in common? They’ve all just won prizes in our contest!

posted Sunday, August 21, 2016 at 8:28 AM EDT

Of course, it's the photographers who win the prizes, in conjunction with their gear, but we couldn't resist the tongue-in-cheek headline this month. And while we can certainly appreciate when our contest winners showcase photographic variety in certain months, it's also enjoyable to see other months' prize winners sharing a common theme, and this month that theme is firmly rooted to Mother Nature herself.

It is summer in the northern hemisphere after all, and a great time to be out capturing Mother Nature in all her glory. This is just what our three prize-winning photographers this month have done, all bringing us a different view of the natural world, and all captivating and inspiring ones at that!

As a reward for sharing with us their hard work and photographic vision, the three pirze winners this month will receive a gift certificate from our trusted affiliate Adorama of $300, $200 and $100, respectively. Congratulations to our contest winners this month, our worthy runner's up, and a big thanks to everyone who enters our contest!

First Prize • $300 gift certificate from Adorama

First Prize • Eagle Over Valdez by Don Jeane • Canon 7D

Second Prize • $200 gift certificate from Adorama

Second Prize • Expectant Mandrill by Abeselom Zerit • Nikon D810

Third Prize • $100 gift certificate from Adorama

Third Prize • A Full House by Terry Cervi • Canon 5D Mark II

Additional Honors

First runner-up • Western Tanager by Debra S. Dorothy • Canon 7D

Second runner-up • A Sky Full Of Skimmers by Morris Bennett Altman • Nikon D300S

• Click any image for more information •

Last month was interesting in that five different camera makers were represented among our prize winners and runner's up, bucking a long-standing trend of having primarily Canon and Nikon models represented. This month it's back to the status quo, with three Canon bodies and two Nikons taking home the accolades. We penned a news story about this trend last year for anyone interested!

And for those of you wanting to know more about our competition please visit this news story, which describes our contest and also offers some useful tips to help you succeed, and this story that warns you of the best ways to NOT succeed. To see camera and exposure information for this month's winners or to see winners from previous months please visit our POTD winner's gallery.

[And if you're ready to enter now, just click here!]

On a related note, we've just started a new series of articles called "Reader Stories," where we turn the tables and let you, our readers, do the talking! We're interested in seeing more of the shots you're the most happy with, and in hearing just how you got them, or just hearing about your passions, interests and the gear you love! Intrigued? Please click here!