BirdoftheYear (BOTY) was first launched in October 2005 by Michael Szabo, editor of Forest & Bird at the time, initially as an online poll featured in Forest & Bird's first email newsletter; votes were collected by email and through the post.[3]... The firstbird you see on January 1st becomes your theme bird for that year. A magical bird, you hope—one to bless your perspective, your imagination, your spirit. Here’s what author Lyanda Haupt had to say about her “birdoftheyear.” The firstbirdoftheyear may or may not be an auspicious event in the classic tradition, but if we pay attention to the birds around us, we’re guaranteed a year of visual and auditory delights. And that’s a good thing no matter what species is our first. The site owner hides the web page description. After being skunked the last few years, I was able to put this bird on the ground this morning.How long is it? Is that a 2nd little beard I see in oneofthe pics? Congrats on a well deserved bird. Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki says, “BirdoftheYear has grown from a simple email poll to a cultural moment in Aotearoa.Voting closes for BirdoftheYear 2025 at 5pm, 28 September. The winning bird will take centre stage as the first Waiata Manu ‘songbird’. Ifirst read about “BirdoftheYear” a dozen years ago, in Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s paean to birding, Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds. She writes: There is a game birders play on New Year’s Day called “BirdoftheYear.” What will your 'birdoftheyear' be? The very firstbird you see on January 1st 2023. This is the second year I've run a #birdoftheyear project with my Patrons. My bird last year was the Crow. I sketched, painted, and learnt about the Crow over theyear. There were a ton of birds here in the last few weeks/days. First, let's start with my yard. There was a Dark-Eyed Junco and 2 American Kestrels, both first yard records. The idea is that the firstbird you see on New Year’s Day is your bird for theyear. It will be a sign for theyear, or how theyear will go. Example; say you saw a Starling, high odds of that in most of America.
