Shock concession in Bird of the Year! Kotare flies in behind kea!
Bird of the year heats up: kōtare concedes, backs kea
The national Bird of The Year competition is heating up, with a shock concession from one of the contenders.
The kōtare, or kingfisher, has conceded it will not win the poll, and flown in behind one of the two leading candidates, the kea.
The kōtare has notched up 229 votes in the first week of the two-week ballot. But two birds are clear leaders in the hard-fought election race: kea on 1246 votes and kōkako on 1368.
Kōtare campaign manager Greening the Red Zone said the people had spoken, and for the integrity of the competition it was important for minor players to step back and focus on electing the best representative for all New Zealand’s birds.
“We love our kōtare, and want to see many more of them throughout a regenerating red zone,” said Greening the Red Zone co-chair Ashley Campbell. “But it’s clear that this is not the kingfisher’s year.
“The kōtare’s time will come, but in this electoral battle we need to throw our support behind best candidate for right now.
“We believe that candidate is the kea – the world’s only mountain parrot, and one that’s facing serious decline,” Ms Campbell said.
“While we will never see kea in the red zone, we want to make sure they stay forever in our mountains, entertaining tourists, rearranging windscreens, and just being the amazing birds they are.
“Besides which, we are troubled by the electoral track history of the kōkako and don’t want to see this important national poll mired in yet another voting scandal,” Ms Campbell said (see www.forestandbird.org.nz...).
You can #VoteKea at www.birdoftheyear.org.nz.... You can read more about Greening the Red Zone’s plans for a native forest and wetland park in Christchurch’s Avon River Red Zone at greeningtheredzone.nz.
Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
-
52.7% Human-centred experience and communication
-
14.6% Critical thinking
-
30% Resilience and adaptability
-
2.7% Other - I will share below!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Loading…
