While North America was captivated with Alaska’s Fat Bear Week (Chunk won, by the way), another playful animal competition was going down in New Zealand: The annual Bird of the Year contest, which aims to raise awareness for the country’s native bird species and the threats they face. Voting ran from Sept. 15-28, and this past Monday, the winner was announced.
The 2025 victor is the Kārearea, a fierce bird of prey that can fly nearly 125 miles per hour and is capable of catching animals larger than itself. Its name comes from the Indigenous Māori language and the bird is the nation’s only falcon, classified on the contest’s website as “in serious trouble.”
@docgovtnz Kārearea/New Zealand falcon takes the title for @forestandbird.nz BirdoftheYear2025! Even though the competition is done for the year, remember to keep loving all our native birds all year round. From the booming kākāpō to the chip-stealing gull, they’re all our taonga (treasures) everyday. 💚 🎵: Like a G6 ft. The Cataracs, DEV | Far East Movement #fyp #karearea #birdtok #birdoftheyearnz
♬ original sound – Department of Conservation – Department of Conservation
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the first contest, organized by conservation organization Forest & Bird. A total of 73 species were included in what the Associated Press called a “fiercely fought election,” and though all in good fun, campaigning included meme battles, trash-talking posters, and people dressed up as birds doing dances on social media.
“Bird of the Year has grown from a simple email poll in 2005 to a hotly contested cultural moment,” Forest & Bird Chief Executive Nicola Toki said in a statement, adding: “Behind the memes and mayhem is a serious message.”
New Zealanders are known for being passionate about — even “obsessed” with — their birds, perhaps in part because there are no native land mammals other than two species of bat. “This is not a land of lions, tigers, and bears,” Toki told the AP. “The birds here are weird and wonderful and not what you would expect to see perhaps in other countries.”
Other contenders included multiple types of penguins, robins, a parakeet, a kingfisher, a robin, and a colorful pigeon called a Kererū, which won the 2018 contest and sometimes “gorge[s] so heavily on fermented fruit that they’ve been known to fall out of trees,” per the competition description. Also in the running? Two-time winner the kākāpō, aka the world’s fattest parrot. (You can listen to the call of each bird on the contest’s website.)
The world’s fattest parrot
Of the 75,439 votes in the contest, 14,317 went to the winning falcon species, sending it soaring to the top spot. In addition to bragging rights, the Kārearea will be honored with a new song in the Māori language that will be released to the public. There are only an estimated 5,000-8,000 of the forest-dwelling birds still in existence, and they’re vulnerable to threats like habitat loss and electrocution on electrical wires.
“They’re a mysterious bird and that’s partly because they’re cryptic, they’re often well-hidden,” Phil Bradfield, a trustee of New Zealand’s Kārearea Falcon Trust, told the AP.
Australia is also running a Bird of the Year contest, with voting kicking off this coming Monday. Click here to learn how to get involved.
Stories like this remind us of the power of human ingenuity and compassion. In a world where headlines are often dominated by negativity, it is refreshing to see developments that inspire hope and positive change. The story behind “mysterious” bird of prey wins new zealand’s fiercely campaigned bird of the year contest is one that resonates with people across different backgrounds and cultures, highlighting the universal desire for progress and connection.
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