Angela Farnsworth has been named the inaugural winner of the BirdLife Photographer of the Year for her photograph of a Brush-turkey preening its feathers.
Preening One’s Feathers by Angela Farnsworth, winner of the inaugural BirdLife Photographer of the Year. © Angela Farnsworth.
According to this year’s judges, the image stood out from the 6,631 entries because it is perfectly composed, with the dark tones in the feathers never losing detail and features a much-maligned Australian bird. Angela will receive the grand prize of a Nikon Z 8 camera valued at $7,449 RRP.
Individual category winners were as follows:
Backyard Birds – Jen Ton for a shot of a Noisy Friarbird on a gate, titled Life imitating art;
Bird Behaviour – Louie Owen for a picture of two Caspian Tern chicks fighting over a fish, titled Sibling Rivalry;
Birds in Fight – Milind Gupte for Wings of Grace, a photo of a Plumed Egret in flight against a soft, overcast sky;
Human Impact – Sue Harper for Line dancing, a tele shot showing a Pied Oystercatcher struggling futilely to escape a fishing line that was entangled around its leg;
Birds in the Landscape – JakeWilton for a vertical shot of a Southern Cassowary strolling along a rainforest creek, titled Rainforest Wanderer;
Bird Portrait – Preening One’s Feathers by Angela Farnsworth, who was also declared BirdLife Photographer of the Year;
Special Theme: Diurnal Raptors – Howard Loosemore with a shot of a White-bellied Sea Eagle fishing, titled White Bellied Thunder;
Youth – Spencer Hitchen’s winning image, I love Glossies shows a Glossy Black-Cockatoo drinking at a local waterhole.
Portfolio Winner – Donald Chin with a series of photographs titled The fight for survival – Australian Fairy Tern.
Winners of individual categories (shown above) will each receive $1,000; the Portfolio Prize winner takes home $2,000. The competition is sponsored by Nikon Australia and the Lake Cowal Foundation.
Click here to view the winners’ gallery.
