Yellow-eyed penguin wins New Zealand’s bird of the Year 2024 for the 2nd time

KATHMANDU: A yellow-eyed penguin, after winning the title in 2019, has once again been crowned New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2024.

Conservation organization Forest & Bird announced the news on Monday.

With 6,328 votes, the unique and rare penguin species known as the hoiho, indigenous to New Zealand, claimed the prestigious crown for the second time, gracing its golden head with the title.

Forest & Bird also mentioned that the kakapo has joined the ranks as the only bird to have won the avian election twice before.

In second place was the karure, or Chatham Island black robin, while the kakapo, winner in 2008 and 2020, took third place.

Photo: Hayden Parsons/AP