Kia ora e hoa - hello my friend☀
We are now well into spring, with our pear trees in blossom and the first of our tulips flowering in a beautiful cool red. I’ve also had the pleasure of regular tūī visits, and I took a moment yesterday to crack the window open (despite the 7℃ temps) to enjoy its song. Aotearoa’s wildlife truly is special.🖤
Between the stress of our pop up exhibition, and my to-do list crashing down around me, time has flown by and realise I have missed two Weekly Wildlife columns - I am sorry for that, and thank you for sticking through with me.
I also see that the annual Bird of the Year competition closes at 5pm tomorrow! So here’s your reminder to vote (you don’t have to live in New Zealand).🐧🦆🦉🦅
Bird of the Year
Bird of the Year (Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau) was started by Forest & Bird in 2005, inspired by the uproar when Radio New Zealand (RNZ) considered dropping their daily bird calls. People could vote by email or even by sending a postcard to Forest & Bird.1 Bird of the Year’s 2005 winner was the tūī, followed by the pīwakawaka the following year, and the riroriro in 2007.
“Forest and Bird hopes people will take time to think about what they like most about New Zealand’s native birds and why they are special. We also hope the poll will stimulate people to learn more about native birds and enjoy making their choice as they encounter native birds in the wild.”
-Forest and Bird Conservation Manager Kevin Hackwell (2005)
I think it’s interesting that the first three winners were garden manu (birds), and I think we do tend to vote based on what we know and love. This is reinforced by the recently established Bug of the Year competition (because our manu can’t get all the love!) as the first winner was ngaro huruhuru, a native bee.2
One highlight was 2014’s competition, which was re-named Seabird of the Year, to emphasise the importance of our manu who are often out of sight but equally important (the winner was tara iti/fairy tern).3 Another was the rather controversial competition of 2021 which was won by the pekapeka-tou-roa: our endemic long-tailed bat and definitely not a bird!4 And last year we even made it onto the international radar with British comedian John Oliver backing the pūteketeke (great crested grebe).5
And, of course, we cannot forget the recent trend of Bird of the Year memes as we campaign for our favourite birds:
Happy voting,
Zenobia x
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We ended up going with the wee whio- blue duck... my lad obviously likes ducks at the mo :)
Good choice x