Simply irresistible: a ruru (morepork) at Queenstown Kiwi Birdlife Park. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Voting for Bird of the Century - run by Forest & Bird - opens 9am tomorrow.
The annual Bird of the Year competition has been renamed to celebrate the conservation group's centennial year.
Voting starts on Monday and runs for two weeks.
The 2021 competition was won, infamously, by the long-tailed bat.
Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki believed there would be controversy to be had this year, too, with 77 native birds vying for the title.
The kākāpō is preparing to take on all comers. Photo: Jake Osborne
Among them was the kākāpō, which was barred from the competition last year for being too popular.
"I'm still suffering the consequences in terms of complaints of kicking the kākāpō out of the competition last year," she said.
"The kākāpō lovers among you all will be pleased to know that it's back in."
Five species that had become extinct within the last 100 years - the piopio, the bush wren, the whēkau or laughing owl, the South Island snipe and the huia - would also be included.
The last official sighting of the North Island piopio was in 1902. Photo: North Island Piopio, Turnagra tanagra, collected 8 September 1900, Waitotara district, New Zealand. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (OR.000212).
She said these birds would provide a poignant reminder of the many bird species that were still endangered.
"Given that 82 percent of New Zealand's bird species are still threatened with extinction, we want to remind people that their survival is still very much at stake," she said.
Toki said the dates for this year's competition were shifted due to the general election.
"We're hoping that where there would seem to be sort of general malaise around the nature of the last type of election we've just had, this one should provide a lot more fun, entertainment, information and education."
