New Zealand's bird of the year picked up by a penguin

A rare, smelly and yellow-eyed penguin species has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the year for the second time in less than a decade.

- ALISHA RAHAMAN SARKAR

The hoiho, which translates as “noise shouter” in the Maori language, won the country’s fiercely fought avian election yesterday, offering hope to supporters of the endangered bird that recognition from its victory might prompt a revival of the species.

The yellow-eyed, shy bird is thought to be the world’s rarest penguin and is the largest of New Zealand’s mainland penguin species. The birds, with their distinctive pale yellow bands of feathers, live along parts of New Zealand’s South and Chatham Islands and in the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands.

Despite conservation efforts, the hoiho population has dropped perilously by 78 per cent in the past 15 years, and 18 per cent in the last year alone, according to the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust. There are believed to be roughly 5,000 fish-smelling penguins left in the world.

Yesterday’s victory followed a campaign for the annual Bird of the Year vote that was free from past years’ foreign interference scandals. More than 50,000 people voted in the poll – 300,000 fewer than last year, when British late-night host John Oliver drove a humorous campaign for the puteketeke – a “deeply weird bird” that eats and vomits its own feathers – to secure a landslide win.