Could the Takahē be Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau 2026?
Artwork featured with permission from Tara Black.
Election year will be getting serious in September - the election for Bird of the Year that is!
The competition has now been running for over 20 years and this year Landscape Architecture Aotearoa is lending its support to the Takahē, with a special shout out to the talented comic artist Tara Black for leading the charge and signalling the inspiration.
LAA encourages you to follow Tara’s unfolding campaign series for the Takahē, launched last month, on her Tara Comics substack.
Actual voting won’t open at Bird of the Year until Friday 4 September, and will run from then till 5pm on Sunday 20 September. The winner will be announced on 21 September and will have a song created in its honour.
To gee up your enthusiasm, you can read Tara’s back story to taking the side of the Takahē by clicking on the image below.
Time for you to be inspired
If you or the company or agency you work at would like to put special effort into the 2026 campaigning, Forest & Bird have a fast-shrinking list of birds who you could put a dedicated campaign effort into - see become a Bird of the Year campaign manager. You’ll have to hurry!
Forest & Bird's Group Manager Rebecca Hatch says the country’s oldest and largest independent conservation organisation is "leaning all the way in" for election year.
"As well as competing for Bird of the Year votes as individual candidates, birds have been grouped into parties. Naturally, those parties come complete with manu-festos - with lots of puns."
Each vote cast for a bird will also count towards its party's total, she said. This means the election will reveal not only the bird of the year but the favourite flock. The six bird ‘parties’ standing in 2026 are:
Sea birds and Tree birds - the ocean-goers versus the forest chorus
Shore birds and Floor birds - the water bloc versus the flightless battlers
Shy birds and High birds - the quiet caucus versus the high living
See also: