The Avian Favor Contest that has a More Profound Mission
Bird of the Year acts as a refreshing antidote to an increasingly bleak news cycle, celebrating Australia's extraordinary and unique native wildlife. However, it's also a numbers game.
Using past results as a indicator, more than 300,000 votes could be lodged over nine days, starting at 6am AEDT on 6 October, as people from around the world vote for their favourite Australian bird species for 2025.
The victorious aviator (assuming it is a bird that flies – probable, but not certain) will be honored alongside prior 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 thinking about how to vote, here are some other numbers to ponder.
A increasing number of bird species are facing challenges. The federal government classifies 164 as threatened. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, 11 birds have been included to the list since the last bird of the year vote two years ago.
At least 22 species and subspecies have already been driven to extinction, mostly in the decades after European colonisation.
Most pressingly, there are 18 bird species listed as critically endangered, placing them a single step from lost. They encompass some regular contenders: the regent honeyeater, the far eastern curlew and the swift and orange-bellied parrots. They may soon be accompanied by others, such as Baudin’s black cockatoo.
It is hoped that actions needed to save them – and the roughly 2,000 other species and ecological communities considered at risk – will be at the centre of the government’s work to revise the national nature law in the coming months.
Why this is important, and what birds mean to people, has been the focus 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 concentrate on is: one.
Each day, everyone has one vote to assign to their preferred bird that remains in the competition.
At the end of each day, the five birds that garnered the least votes will be removed from the race. The last round of voting will take place on Tuesday the 14th, when only 10 birds will remain. That voting closes at 6am on Wednesday the 15th.
The winner will be revealed in a live stream at midday the following day.
In the words of BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley – a key organizer behind bird of the year – the next week-and-a-bit 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 should also be highly enjoyable. Time to get voting.
