John Oliver appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon dressed as a pūteketeke as part of his campaign for New Zealand's Bird of the Century contest. Photo / via video
John Oliver appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon dressed as a pūteketeke as part of his campaign for New Zealand's Bird of the Century contest. Photo / via video
After perhaps the most intense election ever seen Forest & Bird’s annual Bird of the Year competition, we finally have our winner - and the results may or may not surprise you.
The competition was previously called Bird of the Year but this year, with competition runners Forest & Bird turning 100, they decided to name it Bird of the Century - and plenty of bird enthusiasts far and wide (we’re looking at you John Oliver) took an interest.
In fact, it has been such a popular contest this time around, the conservationist organisation made the decision last week to delay the winner announcement to today - it was originally scheduled for Monday, November 13.
So, now that we have finally reached the day, here is the moment you’ve all been waiting for:
Following a televised campaign on US television by British comedian John Oliver, the winner of this year’s Bird of the Century contest is the pūteketeke.
Appearing on Breakfast this morning, Nicola Toki from Forest & Bird had the honour of announcing the winner - not before addressing the “mass voter fraud” that occurred, though.
Speaking to Anna Burn-Francis, Toki revealed more than 700,000 people from 195 countries voted in this year’s election, which “complicated things enormously”. Especially as one very enthusiastic person in Pennsylvania put in 3403 votes – equating to one every three seconds.
Unfortunately for the bird lover, they were disqualified. But it’s not all bad news, more than 350,000 voters did things the right way and were able to be verified, giving us our winner.
While Oliver himself has yet to comment on the win, there is one person who wanted to get their congratulations in before the rest.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon issued his well-wishes to “campaign manager” Oliver.
“The pūteketeke bird has just been crowned Bird of the Century - a huge result. Congratulations to campaign manager John Oliver and all those who gave their support to the pūteketeke.”
He also congratulated Forest & Bird which did a “great job raising awareness for New Zealand’s native wildlife”.
The Pūteketeke bird has just been crowned Bird of the Century - a huge result. Congratulations to campaign manager @iamjohnoliver and all those who gave their support to the Pūteketeke. @Forest_and_Bird have again done a great job raising awareness for New Zealand’s native…
While hosting Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, the host not only made time in his busy show to explain what the competition is, he also campaigned for his bird of choice: the pūteketeke.
Confessing he would like his chosen bird to have “the biggest landslide in the history of the competition”, he first explained to viewers why New Zealand was holding the election in the first place.
“This is a big deal: New Zealanders love birds,” he exclaimed. “They’re famously known as Kiwis after the kiwi bird and birds feature prominently on their currency, which is frankly much better than what US bills have on them.”
He concluded his campaign for the bird by jokingly adding: “After all, this is what democracy is all about: America interfering in foreign elections.”
John Oliver appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon dressed as a pūteketeke. Photo / via video
After impressing Kiwis with his very devoted campaigning, Oliver quickly went from our biggest supporter to public enemy after he admitted to offending New Zealand in an unfortunate blunder while live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Appearing on Fallon’s show dressed as a giant bird, Oliver was campaigning for the pūteketeke when he slipped up live on air and in his own words accidentally offended the entire nation.
“On our show on Sunday, we entered the Australian ... uh, sorry. Not Australia. New Zealand. I could not have made a more offensive mistake than that,” Oliver mistakenly told Fallon as millions around the US watched on.
The crowd then burst out laughing before Oliver attempted to brush the cheeky mistake under the rug.
“Although, potato, potato [potahto], am I right?”
Air New Zealand joins the conversation
Aotearoa’s national carrier even decided to hop on to The Bird of the Century chatter, penning a letter to Oliver for his efforts.
Air New Zealand invited the chat show star to migrate south on its “very own bird” to find out if the feathered friend he’s backing takes out the coveted prize.
Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said Kiwis were spitting feathers when they found out the comedian was meddling in the nation’s most significant election of the year, so it was only right he visited.
“As fellow fliers, we love John Oliver’s passion for the pūteketeke, but we think it’s time he enjoys the magic of meeting our impeccable native birds in the flesh. We’re inviting John to Aotearoa for an exclusive meet and greet.
“There’s nothing quite like a bird’s eye view of Aotearoa from the window seat of our very own winged flier, so we’re offering John the opportunity to jump on board and visit us to back his bird — on us. It’s just one easy flight from his studio’s base in NYC.
“Aotearoa has given John a lot of material over the years, so it’s only natural he visits the source of many of his punchlines to smooth any feathers he’s ruffled. John — we know you’re a good egg, it’s about time for a visit.”
The New Zealand falcon, or kārearea - pictured here at the Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust in Rotorua - was also in the running. Photograph / Alan Gibson
The Bird of the Year’s past controversies
It may come as a surprise to some but several voting scandals have rocked the world’s most important bird poll throughout the years. Voter fraud and attempted fraud were discovered in 2015, 2017 and 2020 — and it caused quite the drama.
Quoting Forest & Bird’s response at the time, Oliver said on Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: “We’re not mad, just impressed that someone cares enough about New Zealand’s native birds to rig the competition. This all speaks to how much the people of New Zealand justifiably love this competition.”
After the scandal, an email vote verification system was implemented and an independent data scrutineer was employed to analyse this year’s votes for any irregularities that may point to foul play.
Elsewhere, the long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus), also known as the pekapeka-tou-roa won in 2021 shocking those invested in the competition.
The pekapeka or long-tailed bat was named as the New Zealand Bird of the Year in 2021. Photo / Ian Davidson-Watts
Another scandal that Oliver passionately touched on during his 13-minute segment was the “bulls**t” kākāpō disqualification in 2008 and 2020, after the competition attempted to shine a light on the country’s lesser-known birds.
“We don’t do that for other awards,” Oliver sarcastically quipped, adding: “Oh sorry Beyoncé, you’ve already won 32 Grammys. You are disqualified from now on so that someone worse than you can win, I hope you understand.”
Why the contest matters
When it comes to The Bird of the Century competition, the most important goal is the support and awareness behind the feathery contenders.
Following Oliver’s show segment, online searches for the pūteketeke spiked significantly. What’s more, Forest & Bird confirmed via X, formerly Twitter, that donations had seen a significant increase this year and that they were “blown away by people’s generosity”.
RealNZ's kākāriki karaka Bird of the Century billboard. Photo / RealNZ
“People should exercise their democratic right to vote if they’d like to see their favourite feathered friend swoop to the top of the flock, and to show their support for our native birdlife,” Ellen Rykers from Forest & Bird told the Herald last week.
“Behind all the silliness, memes and bird costumes, there’s a serious underlying message: more than 80 percent of our native birds are threatened or at risk of extinction.
“Given we love our birds so much, let’s make sure we protect them.”
