Bird of the Year: Canterbury leaders urge residents to vote for local wrybill

Sunday, 3 November 2019

Wrybill birds thrive around Canterbury's braided rivers, including the Ashley River north of Christchurch. (Video first published November 2019)

It's a small native bird with a unique kind of beak and Canterbury leaders say it needs your support.

Regional leaders are urging Cantabrians to vote for the wrybill in this year's Bird of the Year competition.

The competition, run by Forest & Bird, celebrates the country's unique birds and is said to be one of the most hotly contested competitions in the country.

Most of the world's 5000 wrybills live among Canterbury's braided rivers and the species is under threat.

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Environment Canterbury chairwoman Jenny Hughey, Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel, and Canterbury medical officer of health Alistair Humphrey with a larger than life wrybill.

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The wrybill is the only bird in the world with a beak that is bent to the right. It is believed the beak evolved to pick up grubs from behind stones on Canterbury's braided rivers.

It lays stone coloured eggs, which are camouflaged among the stones on the region's riverbeds.

With a larger than life wrybill in tow outside the Christchurch City Council headquarters on Saturday, Environment Canterbury chairwoman Jenny Hughey, Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel and Canterbury medical officer of health Alistair Humphrey said the wrybill could easily win Bird of the Year if every Cantabrian voted for it.

Wrybills on the Ashley River. There are only 5000 in the world and most live among Canterbury's braided rivers.

If the wrybill won, it would bring attention to the vulnerability of Canterbury's freshwater environment. Wrybills need good quality freshwater to survive.

Dalziel said the bird told the Canterbury story as 'it's adaptive and resilient but it needs protection'.

'It's not endangered but it's under threat.

'The reason I am here is the source water protection is so important for our precious aquifers, for our drinking water and that also benefits the freshwater as well.

'It's our braided river system that we have to look after,' she said.

Humphrey said a vote for the wrybill is a vote for Canterbury and its environment.

'A vote for the wrybill will bring the importance of our braided river system and the water that feeds it to the attention of everyone,' he said.

Hughey said the birds could be found between the Waimakariri and the Waitaki rivers as well around the Ashley River.

The giant wrybill model was made to promote the bird for the competition by the Ashley-Rakahuri Rivercare Group on behalf of the Department of Conservation.

It will be kept on display in the Christchurch City Council building on Hereford St until the competition ends.

Voting opened on October 28 and closes on November 10. Votes can be made online at birdoftheyear.org.nz.