Bird of the Year 2019

Hoiho, Yellow-eyed penguinTe Manu Rongonui o Te Tau 2019

Hoiho is 2019’s Queen of the Birds! Until the next Bird of the Year that is…

Why are our amazing, waddling yellow eyed penguins so special? Hoiho (hoiho means ‘noisy’ in the Māori language) live and breed only in New Zealand, and nowhere else. But 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. Forest & Bird and many other groups are working hard to help our noisy penguins. Seabirds have to deal with introduced predators like rats, stoats, cats and dogs on land, while at sea they get caught in fishing nets, and now warming oceans mean they have to swim further to catch a good feed for their chicks

Thank for your support for Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year. With your help, we’re going to turn things around for the incredible hoiho, and all of New Zealand’s amazing native animals.

Bird of the Year is proudly supported by Allbirds

As a sustainable business with deep ties to New Zealand, Allbirds is deeply committed to preserving the natural beauty and diverse wildlife of this truly unique country. That’s why they have teamed up with Forest & Bird again for Bird of the Year 2019, with a celebratory limited-edition collection inspired by last year’s competition winner, the beloved -- and occasionally tipsy -- kererū.

This special collaboration launches on October 28 – the same day the 2019 Bird of the Year kicks off.

Once again made exclusively for our friends in New Zealand, the special-edition Kereru Tree Runners and Tree Toppers, inspired by the iridescent palate of last year’s winner, will be available from 9am Monday 28 October when the Bird of the Year competition launches. And, in a nod to Aotearoa’s +64 area code, 6.4% of all sales will be donated to Forest & Bird to help support their mission.

allbirds.co.nz