An Avian Popularity Competition that has a Deeper Mission

Bird of the Year serves as a refreshing antidote to an increasingly grim news cycle, celebrating Australia's remarkable and distinctive native wildlife. But, it's also a numbers game.

Using history as a indicator, over 300,000 votes could be lodged over a nine-day period, starting at 6am AEDT on 6 October, as people from around the world vote for their preferred Australian bird species for 2025.

The victorious aviator (assuming it is a bird that flies – likely, but not guaranteed) will be honored together with previous winners: the Australian magpie, the black-throated finch, the superb fairy-wren and last year's winner, the swift parrot.

Australia boasts approximately 850 native bird species. Nearly half are not found anywhere else on the planet. That number has been narrowed to 50 for this year’s voting, partly based on numerous reader nominations.

While you are considering how to vote, here are some additional numbers to consider.

A increasing number of bird species are not in a great way. The national authorities lists 164 as endangered. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, 11 birds have been included to the list since the last bird of the year vote two years ago.

At least 22 species and subspecies have already been driven to extinction, mostly in the decades after European colonisation.

Most urgently, there are 18 bird species classified as critically endangered, placing them a single step from lost. 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 accompanied by others, such as Baudin’s black cockatoo.

Hopefully that what to do to save them – and the roughly 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 in the coming months.

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

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

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

At the end of each day, the five birds that garnered the fewest votes will be eliminated from the race. The final round of voting will occur on Tuesday the 14th, when only 10 birds will be left. That voting closes at 6am on Wednesday the 15th.

The winner will be revealed in a live stream at midday the following day.

In the words of BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley – a key organizer behind bird of the year – the next week-and-a-bit 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 should also be highly enjoyable. Now is the time to cast your vote.