The critically endangered swift parrot is the 2023 Australian bird of the year.
Voters in the Guardian/BirdLife Australia biennial poll have used this year’s competition to send a message that they want to see the habitat of the world’s fastest parrot protected.
After ranking around 10th place during the early days of voting, the swift parrot emerged as a frontrunner this week amid a grassroots campaign to raise awareness about its desperate situation.
In the final 24 hours of polling, 11,171 votes were cast for the swift parrot, placing it 442 points ahead of the tawny frogmouth, which received 10,729 votes.
“This was definitely a concerted vote from people who were captivated not just by the birds themselves but their plight,” BirdLife Australia’s national public affairs manager, Sean Dooley, said.
Both the swift parrot and the tawny frogmouth had high profiles in this year’s competition.
The swift parrot was in the headlines before the launch of the poll after Guardian Australia revealed a recovery plan – recently announced by the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek – had not been shared with the experts who helped develop it and failed to adequately address logging of its breeding habitat in Tasmania or clearing of habitat on the mainland.
New population projections for the species reported during the poll showed a team of researchers at the Australian National University had found the decline of the species was accelerating.
Even without the key threat of logging of its habitat factored in, the modelling found there would be fewer than 100 individuals in the population by 2031, with a mean population of just 58 birds, unless there was drastic conservation intervention.
Dooley said while the bird of the year poll was an uplifting display of the love people have for Australia’s birds, this year’s result demonstrated people were serious about protecting them.
“The real thing about this – and this is why it’s so tragic – is swift parrots are the most egregious example of how our nature laws are failing us,” he said.
“Because the situation could not be more stark or obvious.”
Dooley said the clear and distinct threat to the survival of the swift parrot was the destruction of its forest home, particularly through native forest logging.
He said Australia had environmental laws in place that should be able to address that threat but the exemption granted to forestry operations covered by regional forest agreements meant that was not happening and “we are watching this bird go extinct”.
Australia has a biodiversity crisis and Dooley said the swift parrot’s story was one of the worst examples of it.
“In a field of abject despair, it’s the most distressing case of all because it’s within our powers to fix it and we refuse to,” he said.
“I hope the government hears this message. People really care about these beautiful birds. They care about what happens to them.”
Dooley said he empathised with the many supporters of the tawny frogmouth, which placed second for the third poll in a row.
“To all the tawny lovers, hang in there. It will have its day,” he said.
“They’re extraordinary birds. The fact they’re still common and can be seen in every city in Australia is something to celebrate.”
The total number of votes cast over the entire 2023 bird of the year poll was 321,000, with 55,384 of those votes cast in the final round.
Dooley said people appeared more passionate about the poll than ever.
“The fact we’ve got to a point where people can talk about birds and their love of birds and it’s not just magpies and kookaburras – 10 years ago that wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
He said the competition prompted serious discussion about what was needed to secure the survival of many of the birds that featured.
Four of the birds that made this year’s Top 10 are threatened species.
“Of all the threats that each individual species faces, the common denominator comes down to habitat destruction and degradation,” he said.
“If we had nature laws that address that one issue, our birds would have a much brighter future than they’re currently facing.”
