As New Zealand gears up for the 2026 General Election, another campaign is preparing to capture the nation’s imagination—one where every candidate has feathers, every party has a manu-festo, and every vote helps protect native wildlife.
Forest & Bird has officially announced that Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau | Bird of the Year 2026 will run from 4 September to 20 September, with the winning bird to be revealed on 21 September.
This year’s competition embraces election fever by grouping more than 70 native bird species into six political-style parties, creating a playful campaign that mirrors the country’s parliamentary contest while highlighting the urgent conservation challenges facing Aotearoa’s wildlife.
The six “parties” include:
- Sea Birds versus Tree Birds
- Shore Birds versus Floor Birds
- Shy Birds versus High Birds
Every vote cast for an individual bird will also count towards its party’s overall total, meaning the competition will crown both Bird of the Year and the winning “flock” of 2026.
Forest & Bird says the election theme is designed to encourage even more New Zealanders to engage with conservation through humour, creativity and a little political satire. Campaigns will feature polls, endorsements, swing voters and even the possibility of “flocka-jumping” as supporters change allegiances during the campaign.
While the campaign is deliberately light-hearted, organisers say the issues facing native birds are anything but.
More than 80 percent of New Zealand’s native bird species are classified as threatened or at risk, largely because of habitat loss, introduced predators and climate change. Bird of the Year has become one of Forest & Bird’s most successful public engagement campaigns, helping to raise awareness and support for predator control, habitat restoration and biodiversity protection.
The organisation is now seeking volunteer campaign managers to champion each bird throughout the election period. Last year every candidate attracted its own human campaign team, producing social media content, videos and community events to encourage public support.
Schools are already preparing for the campaign, with 154 schools registered to conduct their own classroom elections. School votes are counted separately and have become an important feature of the annual event, introducing younger New Zealanders to both democratic participation and environmental education.
Businesses are also joining the campaign through workplace voting kits and conservation-themed products, while a range of Bird of the Year LEGO-inspired Brick Kits has been released to raise funds for conservation projects.
The campaign’s growing popularity extends into the digital world through Birdle, the New Zealand bird-themed word puzzle game, which has already recorded more than 600,000 games played by over 61,000 unique users since launching last year.
Voting will be open to everyone living in New Zealand and overseas, with each participant able to vote for up to five birds.
For Māori, many of the country’s native manu hold deep cultural significance as taonga species connected through whakapapa, pūrākau and kaitiakitanga. Campaigns such as Bird of the Year not only celebrate biodiversity but also reinforce the importance of protecting the natural world for future generations.
As election season approaches, one thing is certain: this is one campaign where every candidate already has both a left wing and a right wing.
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