The people have spoken: The endangered yellow-eyed penguin has been named New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2019.
Also known as hoiho or tarakaka, the endemic species received the most “number one” votes in a country-wide election.
Described by The Guardian as an “antisocial penguin that communicates by screaming,” the animal won 12,022 out of 43,460 verified votes.
Which is more than three times as many hoiho are left on the planet: 1,700 pairs, between mainland New Zealand and the sub-Antarctic islands.
The penguins—the world’s most endangered—are on track for local extinction within 40 years.
An infectious outbreak in the mid-2000s played a large role in the population’s decline, though human activity (fishing, pollution) has an equal (if not greater) influence.
“Sadly, many of New Zealand’s native birds are in crisis,” Forest & Bird, the independent conservation group that runs the poll, wrote on its website. “Two-thirds of our birds are threatened with extinction.”
An annual celebration of the country’s unique fowl, Bird of the Year helps “give them a voice.”
This is more than a silly census, though: The poll is taken so seriously, The Guardian reported, that competing campaigns invested in full-size billboard ads and voters were forced to validate their identities.
The hoiho has made history today! In a huge upset, the hoiho has come from behind to shatter the feathered ceiling, and…
Posted by Forest & Bird on Sunday, November 10, 2019
As its name suggests, the yellow-eyed penguin—the largest of its kind to breed on mainland New Zealand—boasts a pair of golden peepers, as well as a band of pale yellow feathers around its head.
Mostly silent, it makes a shrill bray-like call at nest and breeding sites.
“They’re a very antisocial species,” campaign spokesman Thor Elley, a University of Otago zoology student, told The Guardian. “They don’t nest within sight of other penguins.”
Reunions, however, are a different story: When mates return home to each other, they stand upright, flipper-to-flipper, and begin what Yolanda van Heezick, an associate professor of zoology, called “an ecstatic ceremony.”
“They are screamingly happy to see each other again,” she said, according to the newspaper.
This marks the first win for seabirds in the competition’s 14-year history. Hoiho inched ahead in the final days of voting, beating 2008 winner the kākāpō by a narrow margin.
“It was so close between these two amazing endangered birds, it was impossible to predict a winner for most of the competition,” Forest & Bird spokesperson Megan Hubscher said in a statement to the New Zealand Herald.
The kakaruia (black robin) took third, the Tūturiwhatu (banded dotterel) came in fourth, and the Piwakawaka (fantail) rounded out the top five.
“Bird of the Year has become a national passion, and that’s thanks to everyone relentlessly and ruthlessly promoting their favorite bird’s weirdest qualities to the globe,” Hubscher said.
“Our birds are so incredible and unique,” she added. “All New Zealand birds are winners.”
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Source: https://www.geek.com/culture/yellow-eyed-penguin-is-2019s-new-zealand-bird-of-the-year-1809988/?source
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Stephanie Mlot
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