Falcon crowned Bird of the Year in New Zealand

The New Zealand falcon has been crowned the winner of the country’s annual Bird of the Year competition, taking 21% of the valid votes.

The high-speed hunter, which goes by the Māori name the kārearea, is capable of reaching 200km/h in a dive, making them adept at hunting in the dense New Zealand forests. They are also at risk, with just 5,000 to 8,000 of them left.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the hotly-contested race, which seeks to raise awareness of the country’s many native species considered to be in danger.

Each one of the 73 birds in the running this year had a volunteer campaign manager, who sought to win over voters with memes, reels and hand-drawn posters.

“Behind the memes and mayhem is a serious message. This year’s top 10 manu matches the statistics exactly – 80% of them are in trouble,” says Nicola Toki, chief executive of conservation group Forest & Bird, which organised the poll.

Ms Toki added that two of this year’s contestants, the kākāpō and karure black robin, are “nationally critical”, each with fewer than 300 birds remaining.

“Habitat destruction, climate change and introduced predators continue to push many species towards extinction. But public awareness can be powerful,” she said.

This year’s contest saw a record number of more than 75,000 voters.

As part of the election campaign, the birds were also able to take part in an election debate, where their campaign managers made the case for why the public should vote for them.

As well as earning the annual title, the kārearea will become the subject of a new waiata [Māori language song] that will be released to the public.

The next highest votes went to the kea, which got 12,506 votes; and the kakaruia or black robin, which followed closely with 11,726 votes. The black robin came close to winning last year but was beaten by a shy yellow-eyed penguin called the hoiho.

Also in the running was the kākāpō, the world’s fattest parrot which has won Bird of the Year twice and had to be removed from the contest in 2022 to give other birds a chance to win.

Other birds that did well in this year’s competition and have never won before were the takahē, which was once thought to have been extinct before being brought back from the brink, and the enigmatic ruru or morepork – a type of small owl.

As well as voting for their favourite bird, nature lovers have also been able to take part this year in a version of the popular web-based word game Wordle – called, of course, Birdle.

The competition has gained international attention in recent years, following the controversial campaign by comedian John Oliver to get the endangered pūteketeke to win.

This included him dressing up as the bird on his talk show and the erection of billboards in countries including New Zealand, Japan, France and the UK.

There have also been allegations in the past of voter fraud and foreign interference, as well as outrage from some when a bat was crowned the winner in 2021.

More than 70 species of bird were contestants this year, and ranged in conservation status from “doing okay” to “in serious trouble” due to a number of factors including predators and habitat loss.

New Zealand is not the only country holding a competition to celebrate its local birdlife. Australia is holding its own Bird of the Year competition, which will run through October.