Photo of a bird at US-Mexico border wall wins "Photographer of the Year competition"

Mexican photographer Alejandro Prieto's picture of a bird standing beside the US-Mexico border wall has won a prestigious photo competition.

Photographer Prieto was selected as the grand prize winner of the Bird "Photographer of the Year competition" after his image was chosen from 22,000 entries.

His photo shows a roadrunner bird standing in front of the wall. He stated the image highlights the menace to biodiversity posed by the wall.

The US-Mexico border region is a delicate ecosystem with regular animal and bird migrations moving north and south across the American continent.

In this region, a number of species have to cross the border to marry their genetically diverse cousins, including the endangered North American Jaguar and the black bear, which was reintroduced in Texas in the 1990s.

"The boundary wall traverses deserts, hills and even mangroves. It is not just desert, and is the whole biodiversity with more than 1,500 species of animals and plants threatened by the wall," Mr Prieto said.

"I watched as many different animals reached the wall before I turned around and walked back," he stated.

Mr Prieto, from Guadalajara, was awarded £5,000 ($6,877) to win the Bird Photographer of the Year competition. Other categories include Young Bird Photographer of the Year and Urban Birds.

Mr Prieto has been documenting animals at the border for over a year. During that time, he said he was facing harassment by border control and the constant presence of drug cartels.