The Most Surprising Pictures of 2010

Racoon Island, Louisiana, USA
Photograph by Andy Levin / Polaris
A Carcass of a dead pelican lies in the oily sand of Raccoon Island, Jul. 21, 2010. Rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and located on the far west tip of Terrebonne Parish, the island is the largest Pelican rookery in Louisiana. Before the Gulf oil spill it was home to over 60,000 pelicans, but in the spill's aftermath hardly one mature pelican could be found on the day photographer Levin took this picture. Instead there were thousands of dead birds as well as numerous emaciated and abandoned juvenile and baby birds, some walking around as if in a daze.

• Best Photos 2010