Every year, Forest & Bird in New Zealand hosts the Bird of the Year (Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau) competition to draw attention to the country's many and varied birds, particularly those that are endangered. Last year, the organization celebrated its 100th anniversary by crowning the Bird of the Century. However, a campaign by talk show host John Oliver pushed the number of votes to seven times the normal number, and left a bad taste in the mouths of kiwis. In 2021, the winner was not even a bird. In 2020, the competition became a global scandal when it was racked by voter fraud.
The 2024 competition has been concluded, and no voting scandal has been reported this year. The winner, backed by several New Zealand groups, is the hoiho, a rare, yellow-eyed penguin that also won in 2019 when it became the contest's first seabird winner. The endangered hoiho has experienced a steep drop in population over the 15 years, and there are only 168 pairs of hoiho left. Read about this endangered penguin at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: Kimberley Collins)
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