New Zealand\u2019s fastest bird, capable of flying 200km\/h in its pursuit of prey, has been crowned bird of the year \u2013 a long-running annual competition that has previously been a lightning rod for scandal and hijinks.<\/p>\n
The threatened k\u0101rearea is New Zealand\u2019s only falcon. It is small and tawny, with impressive talons and large dark eyes. K\u0101rearea are powerful aerial hunters and watch other birds, lizards or small mammals \u2013 sometimes larger than themselves \u2013 from a high vantage point before diving at high speed to snatch their prey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe k\u0101rearea is just a stunning bird,\u201d Emma Blackburn, the chair of the Karearea Falcon Trust said. \u201cIt\u2019s our only remaining endemic raptor and a really important part of our ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are between roughly 5,000 to 8,000 k\u0101rearea left, according to the Department of Conservation. They live in forests around the country and nest on the ground, typically under boulders or fallen trees. The birds are \u201cvery vulnerable\u201d to predation by introduced mammals such as cats, hedgehogs and stoats who feast on their ground-dwelling eggs, Blackburn said.<\/p>\n
Habitat loss through tree logging and the conversion of tussocked grassland into pasture has also likely reduced populations. Meanwhile, the birds sometimes fly into power lines, buildings and nets over vines and trees, Blackburn said.<\/p>\n
The bird of the year competition \u2013 run by conservation group Forest and Bird \u2013 was scandal-free this year but New Zealanders still took to social media to plug their preferred candidates. Each of the 73 contenders had their own campaign manager.<\/p>\n
The contest was launched 20 years ago to raise awareness about the plight of New Zealand\u2019s native birds, many of which are threatened, on the brink of extinction or already extinct due to the introduction of pests, human activity and declining habitats.<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s only native mammals are bats and marine species, putting the spotlight on its birds, which are beloved \u2013 and often rare.<\/p>\n
The two-week competition attracted more than 75,000 verified votes from 123 countries. The k\u0101rearea, which also won in 2012, joins last year\u2019s winner, the hoiho <\/a>and the k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d as the only birds to have taken out the poll twice.<\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s only alpine parrot, the cheeky kea <\/a>came second, while the tiny karure<\/a>, a small \u201cgoth\u201d black robin found only on New Zealand\u2019s Chatham Island came third.<\/p>\n The endangered kea is the world\u2019s only alpine parrot. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Over the years, the contest has been subject to scandal, from crowning a bat the winner<\/a> in 2021, to accusations of Russian interference<\/a> in 2019, and claims Australians attempted to rig the contest in favour of the shag <\/a>in 2018.<\/p>\n In 2023, British-American comedian and talkshow host John Oliver<\/a> ran a global campaign<\/a> for the threatened p\u016bteketeke \u2013 a grunting, puking bird with an unusual repertoire of mating rituals. His efforts were rewarded when the p\u016bteketeke was crowned the 2023 winner.<\/p>\n \u201cBehind the memes and mayhem is a serious message,\u201d said Nicola Toki, Forest and Bird\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year\u2019s top 10 [birds] matches the statistics exactly \u2013 80% of them are in trouble,\u201d she said, adding climate change, habitat loss and predators are pushing species towards extinction.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople fall in love with these birds \u2013 and once they know their stories, they care, they advocate and they act.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s fastest bird, capable of flying 200km\/h in its pursuit of prey, has been crowned bird of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-49291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}