Competition Voting Results

The Kingfishers competition was open for entries between July and August 2013; it attracted forty-six entries from twenty-one different photographers.  The members' votes winner was Ian Boyd; his image of a Yellow-billed Kingfisher (Image ID 8947) scored 24 points.  Brian O’Leary and Tony Ashton shared second place, with their images of a Sacred Kingfisher (Image ID 8929) and a Little Kingfisher (Image ID 8552 - no longer available) each scoring 19 points; they were followed by Neville Bartlett, whose image of an Azure Kingfisher (Image ID 8519) scored 14 points.

The Backlighting competition was held from February to April 2013.  To be considered eligible for backlighting, the bird in the photograph should be predominantly lit from behind.  There were 103 entries from forty different photographers.  Included in this were some fairly 'imaginative' interpretations of what constitutes back light; some were more from the side than the back.  The standard was very high, however I was surprised to see that a number of excellent images didn't receive a single vote.  The winner was Kim Wormald; her image of an Australasian Darter (Image ID 7606) scored 60 points.  Ian Wilson scooped up second and third places with his images of a Brown Thornbill (Image ID 8157) scoring 34 points and an Eastern Spinebill (Image ID 8175 - no longer available) scoring 29 points.

The Birds and Bugs competition was held in July-August 2012.  It required an image of a bird and a bug - a loose term that can encompass many different species such as worms, caterpillar, insects, spiders, ....  The relationship between the two could be causal, predatory, or any other way of combining the two; it is not necessary to identify, or see, the whole bug.  Sixty-five entries were submitted, by twenty-nine photographers. The winning image was Striated Grasswren by Peter Jacobs (Image ID 6637); second was Black-eared Miner by Peter Waanders (Image ID 6722); and third was Sacred Kingfisher by Roy Peachey (Image ID 6625).

The Football Team Birds competition was held in March and April 2012; it attracted 40 entries from 17 photographers.  The theme was any bird associated with football teams, which can be of any code.  For example, in the AFL there are the Hawks, the Magpies, the Eagles and the Swans.  We are not looking for a specific bird, eg with regards to the Hawks, there are a number of different hawks, so any would be acceptable.  Same with the Eagles; there are Sea Eagles, Little Eagles and Wedge-tailed Eagles, so you are not too restricted.  Several Rugby and AFL teams are known as the seagulls; as there are several different varieties of gulls, all will be acceptable.  The winner was Kris Barnard's Scarlet Robin (Image ID 6004); second was Malcolm Cousland's Wedge-tailed Eagle (Image ID 6085); third was Jenny Mackay's Pacific Gull (Image ID 6035).

The Seeing Red competition was held from October to November 2011, and attracted 82 entries from 27 photographers.  The requirement was for a bird with red colour somewhere on its plumage, beak, legs, etc; or that has "red" in its name (e.g. the Red-backed Kingfisher is acceptable, even though its back is not really red.  The results of members' votes were: Winner - Ian Boyd, Metallic Starling (Image ID 5224); second - Ian Boyd, Crimson Finch (Image no longer available); third - Kris Barnard, Australian King Parrot (Image ID 5262).