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 in a competition that attracted 6,631 entries.
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 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.
