Bird of the Year

Bird of the Year
Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau
Incumbent
Hoiho
since 16 September 2024
Term length1 year
Inaugural holderTūī
FormationOctober 2005
Websitebirdoftheyear.org.nz

Bird of the Year (Māori: Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau) is an annual election-based competition run by New Zealand conservation organisation Forest & Bird to elect a New Zealand native "Bird of the Year". The competition is intended to raise awareness of the conservation threats to many endangered native birds.

It draws support from celebrities including politicians, artists, actors, and television personalities.[1] The election is a significant social media and public event in New Zealand; there are regular attempts at voter fraud, some winners (such as the short-tailed bat) have been controversial.

In 2023, a TV campaign by British comedian John Oliver for the pūteketeke drew international attention to the contest, leading it to win with more than 290,000 votes.[2]

  1. ^ "Voting opens in 2006 Bird of the Year". www.scoop.co.nz. 18 September 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).