BirdLife Australia has just announced the winners of the sixth annual photography competition, which attracted more than 6,000 entries.


‘Jambalaya on the Bayou’ by Jason Moore was named as Winner of the Special Theme category: Wading Birds of the Australian Floodplains. © Jason Moore.

This year’s Special Theme was ‘Wading Birds of The Australian Floodplains’. The winning image, shown above, shows a White-faced Heron hunting for food in sheltered waters near Perth, W.A. Photographer, Jason Moore, explains the title came from a hit song released by The Carpenters in the 70’s called Jambalaya on the Bayou. “It was a happy song with a tuneful beat, and it spoke of life on the Bayou..” he says, “my thoughts of a Bayou include water everywhere, flooded cypress trees with Spanish Moss hanging from their branches, and swampland with wading birds.” This images was recorded with a Sony Alpha 1 camera and FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens.


‘Piercing’ by Colin Driscoll, this portrait of an Australasian Darter, taken at Lake Macquarie, NSW, was named as Winner of the Bird Portrait category. © Colin Driscoll.

Colin Driscoll’s portrait of a female Australasian Darter was captured just on sunset, when the bird looked up from preening after her final successful fishing session for the day. It was recorded with a Canon EOD-1D X Mark III camera and EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM lens plus EF 1.4x III teleconverter.


 ‘Pollen shower’ by Guy Draper, showing a Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park, SA. was the winning image in the Bird Behaviour category. © Guy Draper.

This ‘last light’ backlit shot was taken during several weeks of photographing a variety of birds in the Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park. The backlighting showed up the pollen burst as the bird plucked a flower from the grass tree stem. It was taken with a Canon EOS R5 camera with an EF 500mm f/4L IS lens and EF 1.4x teleconverter.


‘Wings spread’ by Tai M Photography, a photograph of a Silver Gull in flight, taken at Fremantle, WA, won the Youth category.

This image was captured while the photographer was walking along the Victoria Quay, watching seagulls flying around. “I tried for a shot like this one a few times but failed until I eventually captured one of the birds scratching itself mid-flight,” the photographer explained.

The annual awards are sponsored by Nikon Australia and Lake Cowal Foundation. Click here to view the full gallery of shortlisted images online.