An Avian Favor Competition with a More Profound Purpose
Bird of the Year functions as a refreshing antidote to an increasingly grim news cycle, honoring Australia's extraordinary and unique native wildlife. However, it's additionally a numbers game.
Taking history as a indicator, over 300,000 votes could be cast over nine days, beginning at 6am AEDT on 6 October, as participants from across the globe vote for their favourite Australian bird species for 2025.
The victorious bird (assuming it is a bird that flies – likely, but not certain) will be elevated together with previous winners: the Australian magpie, the black-throated finch, the superb fairy-wren and 2023’s champion, the swift parrot.
Australia boasts approximately 850 native bird species. Nearly half are absent anywhere else on the planet. That number has been whittled down to 50 for this year’s voting, based in part on thousands of reader nominations.
While you are considering how to vote, here are some other numbers to ponder.
A increasing number of bird species are not in a great way. The national authorities classifies 164 as threatened. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, 11 birds have been added to the list since the previous bird of the year vote two years ago.
At least 22 species and subspecies have been pushed to extinction, mostly in the years after European colonisation.
Most urgently, there are 18 bird species listed as critically endangered, placing them a single step from extinction. They include some bird-of-the-year perennials: the regent honeyeater, the far eastern curlew and the swift and orange-bellied parrots. They may shortly be accompanied by others, such as Baudin’s black cockatoo.
It is hoped that what to do to save them – and the approximately 2,000 other species and ecological communities considered at risk – will be at the centre of the government’s work to overhaul the national nature law later this year.
Why this is important, and what birds signify to people, has been the central theme of a wave of introductory stories, photos, videos and artwork in recent weeks. There’s plenty more to come.
But, for now, the number to focus on is: one.
Each day, everyone has one vote to allocate to their favourite bird that remains in the competition.
At the end of each day, the five birds that received the fewest votes will be removed from the race. The last round of voting will occur on Tuesday the 14th, when just 10 birds will be left. That voting ends at 6am on Wednesday the 15th.
The winner will be revealed in a online broadcast at midday the following day.
In the words of BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley – a driving force behind bird of the year – the coming days will be a “joyous celebration of the birds that save us” and a “call to action for us to work harder to save them”.
It will also be highly enjoyable. Time to get voting.
