The Avian Favor Contest that has a Deeper Purpose

The annual bird competition serves as a welcome antidote to an increasingly grim news cycle, honoring Australia's remarkable and unique native wildlife. But, it's additionally a contest of statistics.

Taking past results as a guide, over 300,000 votes could be cast over a nine-day period, starting at 6am AEDT on 6 October, as people from around the world select their preferred Australian bird species for 2025.

The winning aviator (assuming it is a flying species – likely, but not certain) will be elevated alongside previous winners: the Australian magpie, the black-throated finch, the superb fairy-wren and 2023’s champion, the swift parrot.

Australia has about 850 native bird species. Nearly half are absent anywhere else on the planet. That number has been narrowed to 50 for this year’s voting, based in part on numerous reader nominations.

While you are thinking about how to vote, here are some other numbers to ponder.

A growing number of bird species are facing challenges. The national authorities lists 164 as endangered. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, 11 birds have been included to the list since the previous bird of the year vote two years ago.

At least 22 species and subspecies have been pushed to extinction, primarily in the years after European colonisation.

Most pressingly, there are 18 bird species classified as severely threatened, placing them a single step from extinction. They include some bird-of-the-year perennials: the regent honeyeater, the far eastern curlew and the swift and orange-bellied parrots. They may shortly be joined by others, such as Baudin’s black cockatoo.

It is hoped that actions needed to save them – and the approximately 2,000 other species and ecological communities deemed at risk – will be at the centre of the government’s work to overhaul the national nature law later this year.

Why this matters, and what birds mean to people, has already been the focus of a series of scene-setting stories, photos, videos and artwork in recent weeks. There’s plenty more to come.

But, for now, the number to concentrate on is: one.

Each day, everyone has a single vote to assign to their preferred bird that is still in the competition.

At the end of each day, the five birds that received the least votes will be removed from the race. The last round of voting will take place on Tuesday the 14th, when only 10 birds will remain. That voting closes at 6am on Wednesday the 15th.

The winner will be announced in a online broadcast at midday the next day.

In the words of BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley – a key organizer behind bird of the year – the coming days will be a “happy celebration of the birds that save us” and a “call to action for us to work harder to save them”.

It will also be highly enjoyable. Time to get voting.