Judges Comments

The photographer appears to have been attracted by the sheer number of the birds in the image and maybe exploring the concept of "the many".
The panoramic crop suits the image well and may have been taken further to remove the impact of the yellow flowers on the bank which are quite distracting.
The arrangement of the birds is not compositionally pleasing and waiting until they were more bunched might have had a greater impact.
The photographer could also have tried a different point of view, such as lower down to make us feel more engaged with the animals.