Contenders of the bird of the year include kea, takahē, kiwi pukupuku / little spotted kiwi and Antipodean albatross / toroa. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon, Angus Dreaver, CC BY-NC 2.0 Nik Borrow / Flickr, Supplied / Kimberley Collins
Feathers are about to fly with the winner of this year's Bird of the Year competition soon to be crowned.
Now in its 20th year, the contest has become part beauty pageant and part political campaign.
In past years, there were Russian vote-hacking allegations.
US talk show host John Oliver also hijacked the ballot, pushing the pūteketeke (Australasian crested grebe) into a landslide victory.
And although last year's competition was more mercifully subdued, with the hoiho yellow-eyed penguin waddling away with the title, this year has its own signs of ruffled feathers on the horizon:
The kiwi may be staging a comeback.
A coalition of 25 Wellington organisations has joined forces to launch a campaign for the little spotted kiwi, or kiwi pukupuku. Backers include Zealandia, Te Papa, Wētā Workshop, the Phoenix football club, and even the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
The push to reclaim the spotlight comes after some claim the kiwi lost out for Bird of the Century due to John Oliver's international pūteketeke campaign.
Kiwi coalition member, Wellington Cable Car's Letetia Cheetham said: "I think we feel a little bit robbed."
"We just think it's important that kiwi is recognised as our national icon."
Over the years, the competition has evolved from a modest poll of a few hundred voters into a nationwide obsession.
At its 2023 peak, thanks to Oliver's antics, it pulled in more than 330,000 votes from around the world.
Typically, between 50,000 and 60,000 people cast a ballot.
Voting closed at 5pm on Sunday and the decision was being announced on Monday morning.
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