Martin Barwood, Royal Spoonbill (ANIMALS 2025)

I had been photographing some pied stilts during the morning golden hour. On the way back to the van, I noticed this backlit Royal Spoonbill. I took a few shots through some long grass and moved further along the track to get closer and a clearer view, but I had lost the low-key photo I was after. I moved back to the original position and used my extended tripod to push the grass aside for a clear shot.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.