It’s that time again: Until October 10, 2024, we can vote for which bird species should be named “Bird of the Year 2025.” There are five candidates to choose from, each representing a nature conservation issue. They are intended to show which ecosystems need to be protected – for the birds, the environment and the climate. Who are the candidates?
Since 1971, the NABU and the Bavarian State Association for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV) have chosen a “Bird of the Year” every year to draw attention to the living conditions and threats to birds. Since 2021, the environmental associations have been holding a public vote in which citizens can choose the winning bird from a pre-selection. From September 3 to October 10, 2024, anyone can take part again and vote online for who should be the successor to last year’s winner, the lapwing. The winner of this year’s vote will then be announced on the final day.
A total of five bird species are up for election: “With the black redstart, crane, black woodpecker, black stork and long-eared owl, there are five very different and exciting candidates up for election,” says NABU bird protection expert Martin Rümmler.
These are the five candidates
The black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) is a delicate songbird with a melodic and loud morning song and a fiery red tail. This bird used to be found mainly in mountainous areas, but it is now also often found in villages and towns. Nevertheless, it is finding it increasingly difficult to find food and shelter. As an insectivore, it is feeling the effects of intensive agriculture and gardens with few flowers, which are reducing insect populations. In addition, as a nester in buildings, it is finding it increasingly difficult to find nesting places such as corners of walls, hollow spaces or roof eaves, because these are no longer available when renovations are carried out.
The second candidate, the crane (Grus grus), is dependent on wetlands such as moors, floodplains and swamps for resting and breeding, which are increasingly being drained and built on by humans. The blue-grey migratory bird is up to 116 centimetres tall and is larger than a white stork. It is known and popular for its typical trumpeting, its elegant courtship dances in spring and its migration in large wedge formations in autumn.
The black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius) ensures biological diversity in mixed forests. Its nesting holes, which it hammers into the trunks of old trees with its sharp, strong beak, are used by over 60 different “sub-tenants”, including dormice and bats. The insectivore, which is about the size of a crow, can be recognized by its black plumage with a deep red center parting. Its concern: It needs more wild and natural woods instead of forests for its living space.
Candidate number four is the black stork (Ciconia nigra). In contrast to its namesake, the white stork, its plumage is predominantly black with a greenish-violet metallic sheen. It lives in seclusion in large forest areas and is therefore rarely seen. Because it feeds on frogs, fish and aquatic insects, it is dependent on natural and free-flowing rivers and streams.
The long-eared owl (Asio otus) is the fifth candidate for the sounds of nature. Although its eponymous characteristic “ears” are actually just tufts of feathers, the owl has very good hearing and locates its prey – mice and voles – acoustically during its nighttime hunt. It does not make a sound itself: like all owls, it can fly completely silently. Visually, the long-eared owl resembles the eagle owl, but is smaller and slimmer. Alongside the tawny owl, it is the most common owl in Germany and lives in open forests, for example, where it likes to nest in old crows’ nests. Pesticides and monocultures in fields and forests are becoming an increasing problem, as they are reducing biodiversity and preventing the owl from finding enough food and shelter.
What is the bird election all about?
Although none of the five bird candidates is currently endangered, their way of life represents an ecosystem that needs to be protected and in which the birds play an important role, as the NABU explains. Whether it is agriculture, urban greenery, waterways or forests: the birds and their environment depend on more wilderness, the environmental associations emphasize. This then indirectly benefits biodiversity and the local climate because these aspects are closely linked. “Each of them represents a nature conservation issue that needs our attention – each of the five deserves to be chosen,” says Rümmler.
Source: NABU, virtual polling station