This is the kererū ( Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae ) . It is clumsy , greedy and oftentimes inebriated – and now it has the perquisite of being coronate New Zealand ’s 2018 Bird of the Year .
Bird of the Year is engineer by preservation groupForest and Birdto raise awareness for the 168 bird mintage subsist in New Zealand , a third of which are currently threatened with extinction . This year voter turnout was high than ever with 48,000 suffrage cast in entire – up 7,000 vote from 2017 .
The flat coat - live kākāpō ( Strigops habroptila ) earned 2d post with 3,772 voting , while the extremely rarified kakī or black longlegs ( Himantopus novaezelandiae ) come in at number three with 2,995 votes . However , the kererū , securing 5,833 votes , was the unmortgaged winner .
" New Zealanders have vote irresistibly for modification and the kererū pledges to honor this groundswell of popular opinion and regularise for the man,“Team kererūco - campaigner Tim Onnes denote in apublic statementwhen news show broke .
" Team kererū would wish to thank the voting populace for their musical accompaniment . It has been a long and arduous campaign and we could n’t have done without their sustenance . "
Kererūs are endemic to New Zealand and can be encounter across the country in forest and urban surface area . The bird , also acknowledge as the kukupa , Kuku , kokopa , and native pigeon , is a blue - green color with a purplish - bronze iridescence and blood-red feet , eyes , and bill . While it is not presently on the threaten species leaning , it is vulnerable to attacks from non - native animals , including possums , stoat , and rats .
Perhaps the trait that earns the kererū the most infamy is its penchant for overripe fruit , which has been known tomake raspberry tipsy . Intoxicated kererūs have been seen falling from trees and slamming into edifice . There are even wildlife center in New Zealand where the slight rummy can be drop off tosober up .
Like many elections these daytime , New Zealand ’s Bird of the Year rival is not immune to dirty politics and strange intervention . While election meddling did n’t quite pass on the heights oflast yr ’s competition , moderators did have to discount 2,000 votes because they were base to be fallacious or could be trace to Australia .
For the most part , however , behavior stay on very civic with many celebrity weighing in with their thought on who should bring home the bacon Bird of the Year . ( For the record , Bill Baileyis Team Takahe andStephen Fryis urge on for the kākāpō . ) The competition even made itonto Tinderwhere Shelly the kakī negociate to get an impressive 500 matches .
2018 mark the fourteenth day of remembrance of the Bird of the Year contender . Last year ’s winner was the kea but so far no bird has won the honor more than once .
you could find out where your favorite New Zealand native grade in the resultshere .
