The year of the penguin

New Zealand’s Bird Of The Year has finished with the mighty Hoiho being voted as the country’s favourite bird. The yellow-eyed penguin’s victory was a huge result for all seabirds.

2019 was a big year for our bird too – the Kororā came in higher than previous years with the lovely little blue finishing in a respectable 14^th place. The ‘top five’ were 1: Hoiho, yellow-eyed penguin, 2: Kākāpō, 3: Kakaruia, black robin, 4: Ttūturiwhatu, banded dotterel, and 5: Pīwakawaka, fantail.

We loved seeing all the memes, all the interesting facts and all the passion and persuasive techniques used by the many campaigns. It’s important work too. As our friends at Forest & Bird state, “…things are looking pretty bad for these cute little flappers. Their numbers have been heading downhill for 30 years, and this year, only 165 nests were located.”

For a bird that’s on our $5 note these numbers are sobering. Why not donate a fiver to Forest & Bird? Or take the time over summer when you‘re at the beach to get friends and family to pitch in with a good rubbish clean up? Our little flipper flappers need all the help they can get!

We also want to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful campaign partners at the Wellington Zoo. Ash, Clare and Zel – we’re proud of the great work in 2019 and look forward to making an even bigger splash in 2020!