A casual afternoon bike ride along the Coyote Creek Trail turned into an auspicious opportunity for 16-year-old Jasper Jonnalagadda, when he captured a chance photograph that would go on to win second place in the National Wildlife Federation’s 2025 photo contest.
The image captures a nest of pallid and Mexican free-tailed bats roosting under Highway 101 in north Morgan Hill, packed into a weep hole beneath the freeway overpass.
It was selected from nearly 30,000 entries submitted by photographers from around the world for the Young Nature Photographers category.
“Riding my bike under a freeway overpass, I heard some high-pitched squeaking,” Jonnalagadda said. “Skidding to a stop and looking up, I saw this group of pallid and Mexican free-tailed bats jam-packed into a weep hole.”
The photograph illustrates wildlife adapting to human infrastructure, he said.
“One of the things I found so cool about it was the way wildlife can take advantage of human infrastructure and really figure out ways to adapt to and use what humans have changed to their own advantage,” he said.
Jonnalagadda’s interest in wildlife photography began at a young age when he discovered his father’s old camera, a Canon XSi from 2008, in the garage, which he still uses occasionally today. His uncle later gifted him a newer camera, a Canon 6D, which he used to capture the award-winning bat photograph.
“It started when my dad had an interest in photography when he was in his 20s,” Jonnalagadda said. “I found his old camera in the garage, and then I just started playing with that. Our neighbor in South San Jose had bird feeders, and so I spent a lot of time taking pictures of the birds in my neighbor’s yard.”
Jasper’s mother, Sarah Ruf-Jonnalagadda, said her son’s observational skills predated his photography.
“I would argue that he learned this skill of observation long before he started with photography,” she said. “He was fascinated by nature. He’s a patient and a quiet person. And so I think photography has actually fit well into his life. He was an observer before he was a photographer.”
The Morgan Hill resident, who lives near the Coyote Creek Trail, bikes the path regularly. He first discovered the bat colony in 2023, noticing both the bats in the cracks of the bridge and later in the weep holes.
“You could see the guano just pile up under these holes,” he said.
This isn’t Jonnalagadda’s first recognition in photography competitions. He’s been a finalist twice in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition hosted by the London Natural History Museum.
He was also recognized by the Creative Youth Awards for the same bat photograph in 2025, and took second place in the Santa Clara Open Space Authority’s “Picturing Coyote Valley” competition for an image of a rattlesnake in the Aspiring Photographers category in 2024.
Despite his successes, Jonnalagadda maintains a characteristically modest attitude regarding his photography. When he learned of his National Wildlife Federation win, his mother and sister were more excited than he was.
“We were all so excited. And he went and opened his email and he read it, and he was like, ‘Cool,’ and then that was it,” his mother said.
For Jonnalagadda, the awards are secondary to the message.
“Beyond just winning an award, photographs also convey messages,” he said. “I want to showcase how beautiful and functional nature is and how, personally, I think it couldn’t have existed without a creator.
“And just how perfectly fine-tuned it is to survive and thrive.”
The homeschooled high school junior also volunteers at the Coyote Creek Parkway county park, where rangers have allowed him to use trail cameras to document wildlife. He’s currently exploring both photography and videography while considering future career paths.
The National Wildlife Federation’s annual photo contest features nine categories including Mammals, Birds, Baby Animals, Landscapes & Plants, People in Nature, Other Wildlife, Young Nature Photographers, Mobile and Portfolio. Winners receive cash prizes and are featured in National Wildlife magazine and on the organization’s website.
For Jonnalagadda, the recognition has opened doors to reach a broader audience with his work.
“The exciting thing is I actually have a medium now where I can present photography to a wider scope of people than just friends and family and actually get a message out there,” he said.
The photograph stands as a testament to the power of patience. Wildlife photography, Jonnalagadda said, is a game of equal parts luck and observation, always being alert and ready to capitalize on an opportunity to capture a rare moment.
“In the quest for a picture, you really end up observing your surroundings a lot more closely,” Jonnalagadda said. “It’s just become something you can put all your attention onto and really decompress.”
The National Wildlife Federation’s 2026 photo contest opens for submissions on Jan. 14 and remains open through March 22. To learn more, visit nwf.org/photocontest.
