“Life Colour”. During the wet season the Gulf of Carpentaria in tropical north Queensland holds a myriad of winding rivers, estuaries, creeks and streams that create one of nature’s intricate vivid landscapes. Lush green mangroves line the mud flats accentuated by the tidal waters and months of rain filling the artesian basin. (Photo by Scott Portelli/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Mating Season”. There are very few creatures in the animal kingdom that are so complex, so unique and so alien to us that we are mystified by their very existence. Hundreds of thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish (Sepia apama) gather each winter from May to August in the shallow waters of South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park. (Photo by Scott Portelli/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“The Dragon and The Hopper”. Eyrean earless dragon (Tympanocryptis tetraporophora) standing tall on a very hot rock in western Queensland. For a short time it was joined by a hopper, who jumped off before becoming lunch. (Photo by Harrison Warne/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Manta Entourage”. Gliding across the sandy flats on the inside of the Ningaloo reef, these manta rays often find themselves the hosts of small fish such as these juvenile golden trevally. Manta Rays frequent the inshore bays of the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, searching for plankton-rich waters to feed in and seeking shelter from larger open ocean predators. Taken on breath hold while freediving. (Photo by Lewis Burnett/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Porpita porpita”. “I spend a lot of time walking the shoreline in search of what the ocean brings, and I was particularly fortunate on this day to come across a rare yellow blue button”. (Photo by Jacinta Shackleton/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Prickly”. An echidna foraging for ants. (Photo by Heather Markland/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Tree of Life”. Aerial view taken from a helicopter of Lake Cakora in northern NSW. The creek draining the lake is coloured red by tannins from the surrounding vegetation. (Photo by Tyler Moore/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Huge Feast”. Monomorium kiliani ant feeding on a drop of honey on the leaf of a Swiss cheese plant. (Photo by Peter Virag/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Black Cockatoo”. Beautiful red-tailed cockatoo preening itself. (Photo by Julie Balaam/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“A ghost in the forest”. This image is of the ghost fungus (Omphalotus nidiformis), a rare bioluminescent fungus that glows in the dark. This photo is unique in that the fungus normally parasitises trees at their base, but in this case, the fungus was stacked up the trunk to almost 2 metres in height. (Photo by Adam Fry/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)





“Against All Odds”. Overall Australian winner. This image was captured during hatchling season at Heron Island, Australia in February 2021. A tropical storm had just engulfed the island with pelting rain, thunder and lightning. A green sea turtle hatchling cautiously surfaces for air to a sky full of hungry birds. The storm brought out thousands of birds making this hatchling’s journey to survive even more challenging. (Photo by Hannah Le Leu/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)