'Manufestos and wings': The new twist in this month's Bird of the Year competition

The country's politicians aren't the only ones gearing up for an election as Forest & Bird's 2026 Bird of the Year opens for voting.Voting kicked off on Friday and will close on September 20, Forest & Bird's acting chief executive Erika Toleman, told Morning Report.But this year, the avian election comes with a twist - Aotearoa's manu have been sorted into six different political parties - the shore birds, the floor birds, the tree birds, the sea birds, the high birds and the shy birds.Each vote cast for a bird will also count towards its party's total, so there would be not only a bird of the year but a favourite flock."They're not arranged along traditional human political lines in our election," Toleman said. "Every candidate has a left wing and a right wing and each party has a manufesto."Like with any election there could be scandal along the way, we expect some ruffled feathers around the house."Toleman made it clear no bats were in the running this year, despite the long-tailed bat winning against the other feathered frontrunners in 2021.Toleman said one of her favourite birds in the running this year that may be a more unlikely favourite was the Western Petrel, Tāiko."It's this gigantic bird, our largest burrowing petrel on the mainland which breeds in one place in the world... like many young New Zealanders it does it's OE and goes over to Chile and when it's ready it comes back and has its babies here."The youth vote would be important in the voting this year, Toleman said, with up to 400 schools registered to participate and tamariki votes would act as special votes."Unlike the other election this year, the kids are actually gonna have the ability to swing this election right at the last minute. So you'll have to wait to the last minute to see what takes the perch."While Bird of the Year was a bit of fun, Toleman said it was also a way to shine the spotlight on the fact our native birds were in some trouble.She said it was about celebrating and explaining to people about what help was needed.Every voter could cast five votes on the Bird of the Year website where more information could be found about the candidates.The winner would be announced on September 21.