New Zealand is a bit of a fun place, and they've got a lot of interesting animals to talk about (and I'm more enthusiastic about them than they're cousins in Australia, where everything wants to kill you). Today, I want to tell you about a contest they do in September, where you vote for the New Zealand bird that you like best.
The contest was started by the New Zealand Forest and Bird people. They want to bring attention to the wide variety of birds that are only found in New Zealand and are at risk of going extinct, so they ask for people to vote one the best for the year. I'm not sure about the whole country, but there are some that take this very seriously. People/Groups can pick a single bird and campaign for them, trying to help them win. Those campaigns can be a bit ridiculous because, like in human campaigns, they can be a bit negative about the other's birds and they can take things personally.
2021 actually caused a bit of a scandal because the winner was a bat, but it was allowed because the word for bird in Maori applies to the bat also.
2023 is when I found out about this contest, because British/American comedian John Oliver told everyone about this and started campaigning for his choice of bird-- the Puteketeke. While I couldn't find a copy of the video, there's an article below that talks about what he said and did. One of the things he did was set up advertisements in several countries to get people to vote for the Puteketeke, his chosen bird. Among other things, he loved the bird, also known as an Australasian Crested Grebe, because they coparent the chicks, and their mating dance is grabbing a chunk of grass, awkwardly bump their chests together, then look around for a clue what they're doing. Which, they're kinda cool in their own way. I'm not sure I would have chosen to vote for them, but still. They did end up winning by quite a bit, mainly because he got a lot of people around the world involved, which is kinda awesome.
This year's winner is the Hoiho Yellow Eyed Penguin, which has been listed as shy and, according to some, smelly. It had the Tuhura Otago Museum running it's campaign, and it's now one for a second time, which may mean it's not going to be an option in the future because they have taken the Kakapo out of the running after it won twice also--or that may just be something that is getting considered.
The last thing I want to tell you about this contest is that it's got a lot of interesting birds as options, and my brother likes the Morepork owl, but I think I like the Tui, or maybe the Takahe, more, although the Kereru is very pretty.
Go look, consider the birds, and maybe when you can, vote for an awesome bird.
Sources:
John Oliver's Campaigning, USA Today
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