Farewell Bird of the Year 2021
Like the Greater Sydney lockdown and the Berejiklian government, all things must come to an end.
This is where we will leave you for the 2021 Bird of the Year poll. It has been my honour to be your host.
A recap: the Superb fairywren was our winner, closely followed by the Tawny frogmouth and the Gang-gang cockatoo.
Thank you everyone who has voted and backed their favourites these past two weeks.
I must give a shout-out to my colleagues Gabrielle Jackson, Patrick Keneally, Andy Ball, Nick Evershed and Dave Fanner for all of their hard work behind the scenes to bring this poll to you.
And of course an enormous thank you to BirdLife Australia, in particular Sean Dooley and Helen Bryant. Bird of the Year would not be possible without their many hours of work helping to research and select our competitors. You can read more about BirdLife Australia and the work they are doing for all of our bird species here.
Until the next poll, keep watching out for our wonderful birds. They need all of your support.
Now is a good time to share this ol' faithful.https://t.co/5R5NExjRfw
— Angela Heathcote (@ange_heat) October 8, 2021
If you have enjoyed bird of the year, you will love BirdLife Australia’s backyard bird count which runs from 18–24 October.
It’s a great way to connect with birds around where you live and it’s easy to take part – you don’t need to be a fully committed bird watcher.
Just spend 20 minutes in your favourite outdoor space and then let BirdLife know about the birds you see during that period.
The data that is collected by thousands of volunteers all around Australia helps researchers and conservationists understand more about where birds are living, their behaviour and the ecosystems that need protecting.
For more information visit: https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/
Updated
Now as we near the end for this year, I must pay tribute to the puppet master behind it all.
Guardian Australia’s editorial developer Andy Ball was the genius who came up with the idea to create the brutal elimination-style voting system.
In previous years, people have told us they would like the opportunity to stay in involved in the competition throughout, so Andy killed two birds with one stone (ahem) by his daily knock out poll system, while allowing us the chance to concentrate both on the popular birds and the least popular, as people voted strategically to keep birds in, rather than just opt for their favourite every day.
It’s interesting to note that apart from the last day, when more than 100,000 folks turned out, votes stayed pretty steady at 40,000 per day for the previous 10 days.
Brilliant work Andy!
Since the vote counts were hidden on the final day, we have produced this extremely dramatic animation of the final ten birds jostling for position over the final day of voting
ok since the final voting day for Bird of the Year was with vote count hidden, I have animated the top 10 over time in a RACE to the FINISH pic.twitter.com/AO55OEN1QG
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) October 8, 2021
I hope the captain of team Gang-gang, Lenore Taylor, doesn’t read this.
Recriminations no doubt growing in #TeamGangGang after a shocking underperformance https://t.co/0OWzuUGTpd
— Taylor Rundell 💉💉 (@RundellTaylor) October 8, 2021
My colleagues from the data team wanted to test the hypothesis that more commonly-seen birds would get a greater share of the vote. However, comparing bird counts from the 2020 Aussie Backyard Bird Count with vote counts from Bird of the Year suggests there’s no correlation between the two.
For those of you who love data, this chart by Nick Evershed shows the final share of the votes for each bird overall, as well as the vote share for each bird on each day.
But while some mourn, others organise. Will 2023 finally be the Tawny frogmouth’s year?
I feel the fairy wren had an unfair advantage due to the “superb” in its name. We must rename its main rival as the “Excellent Tawny Frogmouth” to level the field at the next #BirdoftheYear
— Fiona Katauskas (@FionaKatauskas) October 8, 2021
There’s a lot of emotion out there right now. Be gentle with yourselves everyone.
Tawny Frogmouth - 2nd place by 600 votes 💔
— Matt (@mjf) October 8, 2021
The St. Kilda of birds#BirdoftheYear
Congratulations to the newly crowned #BirdOfTheYear... the Superb Fairy-wren!!! 🏆 https://t.co/Cn3u4nG1ao
— Birds in Backyards (@UrbanBirdsOz) October 8, 2021
Sorry for that small pause, I’ve been doing cartwheels around my living room.
It is time for our four runners-up!
5th place is the Australian brush turkey (bush turkey) with 9790 votes.
4th is our neighbourhood friend the Galah with 10,570 votes.
In 3rd, after a tremendous showing this year, is the Gang-gang cockatoo with 12,836 votes!
And our second place-getter, edged out by a feather, is the Tawny frogmouth with 13,332 votes.
Of course, every bird is a winner in our eyes and we wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
And here we go. The winner of Guardian Australia’s 2021 Bird of the Year poll, with a whopping 13,998 votes. Small in stature, massive in popularity and lover of shared childcare and communal living ... watch the video to find out!
Updated
Now we are getting very close to the big announcement. Here is how it will work. The winner’s name is in an envelope in a top secret location. Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor will reveal the number one in a video recording.
I have asked if she has an individual of each of the remaining species in her office to inform them of the results personally but am told they will be sent a text. Brutal.
And in 6th place, after one of the strongest campaigns from the scientific community and my colleague Graham Readfearn, it is the regent honeyeater with 9139 votes!
This special bird needs all of your support to continue.
Regent Honeyeater is the ONLY #BirdoftheYear contender left that earns more votes than there are individuals in the wild. In yesterday's voting, each Regent received 7+ votes. No other contestant has anywhere near that charisma on a per individual basis.https://t.co/ohUOA0ehIA pic.twitter.com/6MXfgZzUpg
— Rowan Mott (@roamingmoth) October 7, 2021
Updated
In 7th is our most colourful contender, maybe even the most colourful of all Australian birds. Please raise a glass to the Gouldian finch with 8445 votes!
Our 8th place-getter has some of the most passionate supporters around. With 8152 votes, it’s the Laughing kookaburra!
In 9th place, we have the hero of the Australian backyard and friend of cyclists everywhere, the Australian magpie with 8046 votes.
Bravo!
Drumroll. The time has come to announce our first batch of results.
We had a HUGE voter turnout on our final day. 100,646 votes cast. Thank you everyone.
I can reveal that in 10th place we have the Peregrine falcon with 6338 votes. Give it up for this wonderful bird.
Watch Guardian Australia’s press gallery photographer Mike Bowers swap one Canberra swamp for another as he heads to the Jerrabomberra wetlands for some birdwatching tips with local ‘Birdian’, Geoffrey Dabb.
Some more on the pressures our birds are facing. The gang-gang cockatoo, which has been one of our leaders in the daily count, is being considered for a national endangered listing for the first time as a result of climate change and the 2019-20 bushfires.
My beloved superb fairywren is also showing signs of decline due to competition from larger urban birds, habitat pressures from property development and the changing Australian backyard.
I’ve covered this, and other birds, in a handy feature here with some tips on things you can do to help.
Now as an environment reporter I would not be doing my job if I didn’t tell you about some of the very serious issues our wonderful and unique birds are facing.
That’s right, Bird of the Year is all fun and games until someone reminds you about habitat destruction and the climate crisis.
We’ve got a couple of species in our top 10 that are really getting close to the brink.
Let’s start with this piece by my colleague Graham Readfearn about the regent honeyeater, whose populations have dropped to such low numbers they are forgetting their own songs.
As it turns out, voting for most popular bird is not a recent idea.
In 1908, Victoria’s Argus newspaper ran their own poll to discover the “Twelve Best Birds” in the state.
However the motivations were somewhat different to our peaceful offering here at Guardian Australia and focused on the “usefulness of birds to farmers and agriculturalists”.
You can read more about it here at BirdLife Australia.
We’ve seen some spirited advocacy for all of our birds this year but my colleague Matilda Boseley has to take the prize for the most steadfast commitment to her number one. The pelican is lucky to have you.
#ICYMI: Voting closes 11:59PM AEDT tonight for one of the most hotly contested polls of 2021 - the bird of the year.@gabriellecj explains how the contest came to be - and we hear from fans on the feathered friends to keep an eye on this year. #TheDrum pic.twitter.com/FKSvKnYxlz
— ABC The Drum (@ABCthedrum) October 7, 2021
Let’s quickly run through our top 10 who have been waiting anxiously since our poll closed at midnight.
In addition to the gang-gang and regent honeyeater, we’ve got the galah, the Gouldian finch and the Australian magpie - a fierce competitor and past winner as Bird of the Year followers would know.
The brush turkey, a sentimental favourite regularly seen roaming the streets near my house, is also in the running, along with the kookaburra and elite athlete the peregrine falcon.
Finally we have the tawny frogmouth, which has been battling it out in the top three all week alongside the best bird of all (yes this is not an impartial blog) the superb fairywren.
We wish them all the best.
Good Morning Everyone! Welcome to Guardian Australia’s live blog of our 2021 Bird of the Year result.
Two weeks and it has come down to this. Ten birds, one winner, nine left to focus on their social media careers.
Who will claim victory?
Will it be the flame-feathered gang-gang, a beloved cockatoo species, especially among our Canberra voters?
Or maybe the critically-endangered regent honeyeater, which has had a surge in votes after it nearly bowed out earlier in the competition.
Here is how things will work today. At 11.30, we will reveal the bottom five in our final vote count.
We announce the winner at noon and the remaining runners-up.
Thank you for joining us for the countdown and for all of your enthusiasm for Bird of the Year.
