Australia's Avian Wonders Captured in Award-Winning Photography
The 2025 BirdLife Australia photography awards have unveiled their breathtaking winners and shortlisted entries, showcasing the extraordinary diversity of the nation's birdlife. Selected from thousands of entries across nine categories, these remarkable images not only demonstrate artistic excellence but also support critical bird conservation programmes throughout Australia.
Celebrated Winners and Their Compelling Stories
Angela Farnsworth secured both the Bird Portrait winner and the prestigious BirdLife Photographer of the Year title with her captivating image 'Preening one's feathers'. Farnsworth captured an Australian brush turkey partially concealed as it groomed its tail feathers against a dark background. 'I liked the low-key effect of the dark background against the black of the brush turkey's feathers,' she explained. 'The red makes a statement... It's not often I have witnessed a brush turkey preening its tail feathers.'
Jake Wilton earned the Birds in Landscape winner award with 'Rainforest wanderer', featuring a southern cassowary navigating a creek in the Daintree rainforest. Wilton described waiting on an embankment as the keystone species advanced with deliberate steps, pausing to pluck fruit from the water. The moment served as a vivid reminder of the rainforest's ancient connection to a much older, almost Jurassic world.
In the Human Impact category, Sue Harper's winning image 'Line dancing' documented a disturbing scene of pied oystercatchers entangled in discarded fishing line. Harper recounted witnessing one bird 'seemingly dancing in the air before it came crashing to the ground'. Through her zoom lens, she discovered the bird's foot was entangled with a long length of taut fishing line that also wrapped around another oystercatcher several metres away. Although both birds were eventually freed, Harper highlighted that discarded fishing line has become a scourge in popular recreational areas, with bird entanglements becoming increasingly common.
Special Category Highlights and Conservation Messages
This year's competition featured a special theme focusing on diurnal raptors, with Howard Loosemore claiming victory with 'White-bellied thunder'. Loosemore described booking two-day boat trips off Esperance in Western Australia specifically to photograph white-bellied sea eagles. 'The skipper explained that I had only one chance at the shot as he only fed one fish a day per bird,' Loosemore recalled. On the second day, he successfully captured the magnificent bird washing off speed as it plucked bait from the water.
Donald Chin's 'Food delivery', which won the Portfolio category, shows a parent tern returning to its chicks with freshly caught fish. Chin described it as 'a poignant moment that celebrates the dedication and rhythm of avian parenting'. He highlighted concerning context: Australian fairy terns are facing continuous threats from decreasing population numbers, with reports emerging each year of diminishing nesting colonies.
Youth category winner Spencer Hitchen, known as 'Glossy Bob', documented a female glossy black-cockatoo drinking at a local water hole in 'I love Glossies'. Hitchen has been observing and documenting this particular flock for over seven years, using his photographs to educate others about these threatened birds and raise awareness about protecting their habitat.
Other notable winners include Milind Gupte's 'Wings of grace', capturing a plumed egret in breeding plumage suspended mid-air, and Louie Owen's 'Sibling rivalry', which documented an exhilarating moment between two Caspian tern chicks struggling over food delivered by a parent.
The competition, announced on Monday 24 November 2025, continues to play a vital role in both celebrating Australia's extraordinary birdlife and generating essential funds for conservation efforts nationwide.
