The piwauwau rock wren, a diminutive mountain-dwelling underdog, has come out on top in New Zealand’s annual bird of the year competition.
By yesterday three frontrunners had emerged, the piwauwau / rock wren, the kea, and korora / the little blue penguin.
The rare alpine species – which weighs less than 20g, about as much as a MallowPuff biscuit – narrowly defeated the little blue penguin, with nearly 3000 voters putting it in the top spot.
Piwauwau campaign leader Stephen Day said the bird had definitely flown under the radar up until now.
"Unless you'd spent some time in the mountains, you'd probably never heard of a rock wren until two weeks ago. It's a true underbird."
Competition spokesperson Ellen Rykers said the korora actually had more number one votes but with the transferable voting system (people can vote for up to five birds) the piwauwau emerged as winner.
More than 52,000 people voted.
She said the winner was "super-cute."
"They are these little olive green wrens and they weigh about the same as a Mallow Puff so they're super tiny.
"They don't really have a tail ... they have these long legs with these really cool quite big feet. They're kind of like snow shoes because rock wrens live above the bushline in the mountains in the Southern Alps so they need these kind of crampons to grip onto rocks and snow and ice up on the mountain tops."
Rock wrens were also nationally endangered and were threatened by rats, stoats and mice which would raid their nests. As climate change got worse, predators could get up higher into the rock wrens' homes, Rykers said.
"So they're a wee bird in trouble and it's fantastic that New Zealanders got behind them."
Herenga a Nuku / The Outdoor Access Commission, the smallest Crown agency, backed the rock wren and even wrote a rap to encourage voters.
The kea came third followed by the Chatham Island black robin and the rockhopper penguin was fifth.
The two-time champion kakapo was barred from the ballot, as the organisers, Forest and Bird, decided to make this year all about the underbirds.
Last year's competition proved controversial with the long-tailed bat prevailing.
