Bird of the Year is coming alive in song

The soon-to-be crowned 2025 Bird of the Year – where tens of thousands of people vote for their favourite native bird – will this year be celebrated with a waiata.

The initiative is the brainchild of Davidson (a three-time winner of Country Music Song of the Year), who says he was inspired by wanting to reward the winner and partly by hearing singer Marlon Williams’ waiata ‘Hoiho’.

Troy Kingi is this year’s special guest on the promised track, hoped to be released in time for summer.

“His songwriting and his vision are unparalleled, and I thought it would be a great way to start the initiative, and of course there’s the great echo of the singing songwriter and the manu,” Davidson says.

Forest and Bird – who run the competition – say it continues a tradition by Māori composer and singer Hirini Melbourne, who wrote about the manu of Aotearoa.

“I see us building on Hirini’s tradition by creating a vast treasury of songs, like a forest, full of magic,” Davidson says.

Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki says they look forward to building “a collection of Kiwi classics that become part of our national identity”.

The inaugural race is tight this year as 25 institutions and groups have formed alliances to back the kiwi for the title.

As for Davidson’s inspiration from ‘Hoiho’ - the yellow-eye penguin, which is illustrated on New Zealand’s $5 note - took the title in 2019 after fierce competition with the kākāpō and again last year.

There’s been controversy in the past with speculation over alleged Russian vote interference and US host John Oliver backing the pūteketeke Australasian crested grebe in an “outrageous” campaign that included ads around the world. It ultimately won in a landslide victory.

The competition, which has been held since 2005, hopes to shine a light on native threatened and at-risk species and the challenges they face.

Voting for Bird of the Year closes at 5pm on 28 September.