The Avian Favor Contest that has a Deeper Mission
Bird of the Year acts as a refreshing remedy to an ever more bleak news cycle, honoring Australia's extraordinary and distinctive native wildlife. However, it's additionally a contest of statistics.
Taking history as a guide, over 300,000 votes could be lodged over a nine-day period, starting at 6am AEDT on 6 October, as people from around the world vote for their preferred Australian bird species for 2025.
The winning aviator (assuming it is a flying species – likely, but not certain) will be honored alongside prior winners: the Australian magpie, the black-throated finch, the superb fairy-wren and last year's winner, the swift parrot.
Australia has about 850 native bird species. Almost half are not found anywhere else on the planet. That number has been narrowed to 50 for this year’s voting, partly based on thousands of reader nominations.
While you are considering how to vote, here are some additional numbers to consider.
A increasing number of bird species are facing challenges. The national authorities classifies 164 as threatened. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, 11 birds have been included 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 decades after European colonisation.
Most urgently, there are 18 bird species listed as severely threatened, placing them just one step from extinction. They include 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 signify to people, has been the central theme of a series of introductory stories, photos, videos and artwork over the past three weeks. There’s much more to come.
But, for now, the number to concentrate on is: one.
Each day, everyone has a single vote to allocate to their favourite bird that is still in the competition.
At the end of each day, the five birds that received the least votes will be removed from the race. The last round of voting will occur on Tuesday the 14th, when only 10 birds will remain. That voting ends at 6am on Wednesday the 15th.
The winner will be revealed in a live stream at midday the next 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 “rallying cry for us to work harder to save them”.
It should also be highly enjoyable. Now is the time to cast your vote.
