Wellington, Sep 16 || The Hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, has won New Zealand Bird of the Year 2024, again after its previous win in 2019, the conservation organisation Forest & Bird announced on Monday.
Hoiho, the world's rarest penguin species unique to New Zealand securing 6,328 votes, "wears the coveted crown atop its golden head for the second time," joining the kakapo as the only bird to have taken out the avian election twice, said Forest & Bird, the event organiser.
"The dapper flapper, with a Maori name Hoiho, means "noise shouter," is notoriously shy despite its loud, shrill call," it said, adding residents from Dunedin where the birds with flipper-power and a sharp beak reside launched a "tenacious campaign" that propelled the penguin into first place, reports news agency.
Led by the campaign manager Charlie Buchan of the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand's wildlife capital, supporters ranged from local wildlife and environmental organisations, the Highlanders rugby team to Emerson's Brewery, who crafted a special pale ale in honour of the "people's penguin."
Campaign teams put up posters, and donned bird costumes in efforts to win votes, hoping to bring tangible support for the bird, Buchan said.