Reason world famous bird’s popularity plummeted by 99.9 per cent
In the 2023 NZ Bird of the Year competition, the pūteketeke received 290,000 votes. This year it's not doing so well.
New Zealand’s national Bird of the Year poll is underway, and the results are looking very different to 2023. Sadly the reigning champion, the pūteketeke, has experienced a dramatic drop in popularity, with votes falling by more than 99.9 per cent on last year.
So far the weird looking waterbird, known across the ditch as the Australasian grebe, has dropped from a record-breaking 290,000 votes to being ranked number one by just 197 people. And the reason isn't likely because it's also found in Australia, or that it weirdly carries it's young on it's back, or that it isn't threatened with extinction like most other New Zealand birds.
The reason for its demise is probably a simple one. Last year, the Bird of the Year competition drew international attention when a United States television show campaigned for the pūteketeke with a series of stunts. HBO’s John Oliver paid for billboards to be installed around the world, and even commissioned a giant feathered pūteketeke costume which he wore on the show. And he followed through with his mission to win in “the biggest landslide in the history of the competition.”
And after a mural in New Zealand's capital Wellington was painted proclaiming the pūteketeke to be not just Bird of the Year, but Bird of the Century, maybe Oliver understandably believed his work is done.
Bird of the Year overshadowed by another election
The annual poll is overseen by Forest and Bird, a non-profit that advocates for nature conservation. Its Bird of the Year campaign lead Ellen Rykers told Yahoo News that in 2023 close to 80 per cent of the vote were cast from overseas, but in 2024 that number had dropped to less than 20 per cent.
But there’s another reason Rykers believes New Zealand’s famous bird poll is garnering less international attention this year, and it’s all to do with the timing. “There’s another pretty big election,” she said in reference to the fierce competition between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Top five most popular birds so far
Hoiho yellow-eyed penguin (4,006 votes)
Karure black robin (3,481)
Kākāpō (3,432)
Kea (3,156)
Ruru morepork (2,960)
New Zealand's birds under threat of extinction
The Bird of the Year competition often creates some light-hearted play, as campaigners vye to have their bird of choice win. In 2018, one unscrupulous Aussie tried to fix the results by voting several hundred times for the shag because he thought its name was funny.
But there is a serious side to the competition too, because with 80 per cent of New Zealand’s birds at risk of extinction, it helps draw attention to what’s needed to protect them from extinction.
“It’s really worrying. The pukunui, also known as the Southern New Zealand dotterel, has gone to just 101 birds as of this year. And the Australasian bittern is nationally critical with 1,000 left here,” she said.
'Special relationship' New Zealanders have with birds
Forest and Bird’s conservation advocate Richard Capie said there is an expectation in New Zealand that politicians honour their responsibility to protect the nation’s birds.
“There is a special relationship in place between New Zealanders and our environment, we say it’s in our DNA,” he said.
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He said previous governments and community groups have worked to save the karure , also known as the Chatham Island black robin after it famously got down to one breeding pair, as well as small but growing populations of kākāpō and takahē. But he’s concerned changes to regulations in New Zealand are now putting the nation’s wildlife at risk.
“Right now, Forest and Bird and many other New Zealanders are deeply concerned the current National-led coalition government is undertaking a series of reforms that are making things worse — much worse — for our environment and our incredible birds and other biodiversity,” he said.
Voting in the competition closes at 5pm New Zealand time and 3pm in Australia on Sunday.
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