Second Place
David Guttenfelder 
Associated Press

"The Last Song: Mediterranean Bird Slaughter"

In this Oct. 2, 2012 photo, a raptor is tethered to the hood of a truck to serve as a trapper's spotter in Egypt's Western Desert. When the bird spies a falcon, it looks up, alerting the trapper to release a small bird wearing a snare, trapping the falcon if it comes in for the kill. Falconers pay up to $35,000 for a live falcon. Across the Mediterranean, hundreds of millions of migratory birds are killed every year for food, profit, and amusement. A largely illegal practice, bird poaching is unsustainable, indiscriminate, and attacks the populations of many already threatened species.