BirdLife Australia Photography Awards: Charlotte Scavarda’s image

Can this Northern Rosella - a native bird also known as the Smutty Parrot - really be trying to open a tap with its foot?

Sweet: Charlotte Scavarda’s image from the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards

Thirst is the title of this image, ­winner of the Backyard Birds ­category in the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards. Charlotte Scavarda shot it in the grounds of the Bungle Bungle ­Caravan Park in the Kimberley, where she was working during last year’s dry season. After weeks of no rain, all the natural waterholes nearby had dried up, so flocks of birds would descend on the caravan park in the early mornings and evenings to sip from any dripping taps they could find. Pictured is a Northern Rosella, a beautiful native parrot that’s much coveted as a captive species. (Fun fact: it’s also called the Smutty Parrot – on account of its dark plumage, and not, alas, for its propensity to recite filthy jokes.)

Scavarda, 29, hails from Marseille in the south of France, but she happily swapped that life seven years ago for a series of adventures Down Under, and she hasn’t looked back. She worked on vineyards and farms in South Australia and WA for the first few years, before pivoting into employment in remote tourist operations. She’s currently working in bookings at the Discovery Parks resort in Undara, 300km southwest of Cairns, on the doorstep of Undara Volcanic National Park with its cave systems made of “lava tubes”. It’s 45 minutes from the nearest settlement, the one-horse town of Mount Surprise, and that suits her fine. “I love the isolation,” she says. “I love the wildlife, the peace and quiet, and the dark night skies.”

She goes walking early every morning when she’s in the Outback. It was on one such walk that she spied this bird on the tap. “I like the connection it creates between the bird and our use of water,” she says. “The funny thing is, the way its foot is positioned, it looks like it’s trying to open the tap.”