Wellington, New Zealand
AP
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New Zealand’s annual bird election is being contested by cheeky parrots, sweet songbirds and cute puffball robbins. The winner this year was a mysterious falcon that never thought about eating them again.
Kalealea, the name of the indigenous Maori of the New Zealand Falcon, crowned Bird of the Year on Monday. However, the annual survey run by the conservation group Forest & Bird is not a regular online voting.
In a fiercely fought election, a volunteer (human) campaign manager applies to your favorite bird stump. The feathers fly as bird lovers try to shake the public through meme fights, trash can poster campaigns and dance routines performed in bird costumes.
“Bird of the Year has grown from a brief email poll in 2025 to a enthusiastically contested cultural moment,” said Nicola Toki, CEO of Forest & Bird. “There’s a serious message behind memes and Mayhem.”
The contest brings joy in the bird land
The contest focuses on native bird species in New Zealand, with 80% being designated as having some degree of trouble. However, New Zealanders are obsessed with birds, which attracts passionate fandom.
Apart from two types of bats, birds were the best in a country with no native land mammals. They appear in art, jewelry and principal’s songs, and New Zealanders are known overseas for their “kiwi.”
The beloved birds include alpine parrots that harass tourists and pigeons, and sometimes fall from trees as they are drunk on berries.
“This is not a lion, tiger, or Bears land,” Toki said. “The birds here are strange and wonderful, and we probably don’t expect to see them in other countries.”
The results follow a scandal-free campaign
The first contest 20 years ago attracted less than 900 votes. Over 75,000 people from a country of 5 million voted this year.
Apart from last week’s Tonight’s host, John Oliver, volunteered as campaign manager in 2023, this was the best voter turnout. Perhaps inevitably, Oliver’s bird, Pteketeke or Austeracian crested Grebe won by a landslide of 290,000 votes.
Other controversies hit the vote. In 2021, there was a mild turmoil when Batt won the title, despite not being a bird.
The vote was turbulent by a foreign influence scandal in 2018 when Australian self-style comedian voted hundreds of votes fraud for anti-polar doctors for sex and birds that share their name. Voters must confirm the email address used to vote.
Forest & Bird said 87% of votes in this year’s poll came from New Zealand. Falcon’s over 14,500 votes appeared to have been fair and squared.
The Majestic Kārearea flys at speeds above 200 km/h (124 miles) and can dive to catch its prey, often small birds. Endemic species are threatened in New Zealand and are vulnerable to wire shock and loss of forest habitat.
“They are mystical birds, and that’s because they’re mysterious, because they are often hidden,” said Phil Bradfield, a councillor at the Karealea Falcon Trust in Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island.
Official numbers suggest that there are 5,000-8,000 New Zealand falcons remaining, but the true number is unknown. Bradfield said the “fast, mean and very special” Raptor is the right bird to be the winner of this year.
Other campaigns knew that Monday’s victory would be a miracle. Ugly birds – not so much ug – they recognize unknown birds and boring faces as uphill slogs.
It does not stop bird lovers. 2025 was the first to attract campaign managers with all 73 bird competitors, with some birds choosing stumps for candidates they knew would lose.
One was Tarkap, or Mark Daalder, a crude grassroots campaign for Australian Gannett, drawing 962 votes.
“Running a campaign for one of the less popular birds is a more satisfying experience because you know that the votes the bird receives are the result of your efforts.”
Despite record voter turnout, Forest & Bird’s Toki said New Zealanders are afraid to give up some of the most threatened species, especially as it costs more to protect them from predators such as cats, rats and storeys.
“New Zealand’s successive governments have cumulatively reduced investment in conservation, the basis of New Zealand’s economic prosperity,” she said, referring to the tourism campaign that promotes the country’s scenic landscape.
“People come here to see our native birds and where they live,” she said. “They haven’t come here to see the mall.”
