Too much choice!  So many excellent images to choose from.  Some general observations:

Unnecessary digital noise was surprisingly common in many otherwise fine images, despite the high sensor resolution of the respective cameras.  This could be down to underexposure of shadow detail, over-sharpening in post, shooting on low-resolution JPEG setting, or a combination of these factors.

Nikon D500 … WTF???  When the images are good, they’re great; when they’re not, they’re terrible!!  (Just between you and me on this.)

Cropping: this continues to be a weakness for a number of photographers, either being too tight (eg. Gang-gang Cockatoo ID32862) or just not enough (eg. Flame Robin ID32787), which is such a shame as it can make all the difference in how impactful an image is to the viewer.  This is all subjective of course!

Colour balance: Care is needed in adjusting any colour balance, particularly when viewing the highlights (eg. grey twigs or branches having an obvious magenta cast).

Shutter speeds for BIF: Just not fast enough in some shots, which made all the difference unfortunately. (eg. Striated Heron ID32851).  Keep it at 1/3200th sec or faster, to give yourself a higher success rate of freezing the wings.

Winner:  Osprey, by Hayley Alexander  (Image ID 33072)

An awesome image!  Powerful, spread-eagled pose by the Osprey, the background knocked completely out, and the focus on those piercing, yellow eyes as sharp as the talons themselves.  It’s that frontal head angle, not quite staring down the camera, that I find so engaging myself.  Despite the less than ideal quality of light, detail in the highlights and shadows has been well managed.  

Osprey

Highly Commended:  Gentoo Penguin, by Jack Shick  (Image ID 33022)

For me, easily the strongest tightly-cropped image of feeding in this competition.  Expertly-composed, razor-sharp focus where it matters, well-exposed, and perfectly capturing the dramatic moment of this feeding behavior.

 Gentoo Penguin

Commended:  Brown Falcon, by Bill Harding  (Image ID 32891)

A very familiar image, and justifiably so.  An extremely dramatic image, and the very low angle accentuates some of the hidden mystery of just what happened next …

 Brown Falcon

(There is a small amount of a magenta cast in the snake’s highlights, although not as much as in some of Bill’s other images such as the Azure and Sacred Kingfishers, which I find off-putting.)

Commended:  Superb Parrot, by Linda Unwin  (Image ID32830)

A gentle, understated portrait , with painterly, soft light and tones.  Well exposed, interesting pose, simply beautiful feeding shot.

 Superb Parrot

Commended:  Pied Stilt, by Richard Barton  (Image ID 32864)

Lovely rhythmic composition, with all stilts stepping in unison.  Yes, the light is flat, but Richard is to be commended for recognizing the strengths in this image.  If shot at a typically lower angle, I suspect the background would have been too distracting, and the separation between the two stilts on LHS not nearly so apparent.

 Pied Stilt

Commended:  White-winged Black Tern, by Jack Shick  (Image ID 32964)

I love an image that is out of the ordinary (don’t we all?), and this is one that succeeds beautifully.  A high shutter speed of 1/5000th sec has worked wonders here, with the glorious glassy water frozen in time as the tern’s bill has broken the surface. The limited colours, and elegant outstretched wings, are aesthetically-important elements in this somewhat arresting image.

White-winged Black Tern