Pūteketeke Pandemonium
This post is my first attempt at a closeread scrollytelling story. It tells the story of the Pūteketeke controversy that plagued the Forest and Bird NZ Bird of the Century competition in 2023.
The closeread extension makes it easy to turn a Quarto document into a scrollytelling story like this one. The closeread documentation and this tutorial by Gaston Sanchez were helpful in making this story.
This bird is called a Pūteketeke
It is also known as the Australasian Crested Grebe.
There are fewer than 1000 Pūteketeke in New Zealand.
They are known for unique courtship behaviour…
… and for being good parents
In my hometown, Wanaka NZ, the humans make the Pūteketeke floating platforms to build their nests on. Read about the Wanaka Grebe Project here.
In 2023, the Pūteketeke went global.
Billboards appeared in cities across the world.
From Wellington NZ …
… to Paris, France
… to Manitowoc, Wisconsin
How did the Pūteketeke get this kind of international attention??
In 2023 Forest and Bird New Zealand was celebrating its centenary and had dubbed its annual competition “Bird of the Century”.
Each year Forest and Bird invites New Zealanders to vote for their favourite native bird.
Anyone with a valid email address can enter.
In 2023, comedian John Oliver heard about the competition and threw his resources behind a campaign in support of the Pūteketeke.
John Oliver himself described the campaign as “alarmingly aggressive”
John even appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s show in a Pūteketeke costume
This is not the first time that the Forest and Bird competition has attracted controversy.
In 2021, the Long-tailed bat (Pekapeka-tou-roa) won the Bird of the Year, even though it is definitely not a bird.
The Long-tailed bat (Pekapeka-tou-roa) is New Zealand’s only native land mammal and caused a bit of a stir when it was voted as New Zealand’s favourite bird in 2021.
The results in 2022 caused less furor.
While the Little Penguin / Kororā technically received the most #1 votes…
…it was pipped at the post by the New Zealand Rock Wren / Pīwauwau…
…a tiny alpine bird that lives in the mountains of the South Island.
In 2023,the result of the John Oliver’s campaign was a resounding win for the Pūteketeke (more than 290K votes!) and a boost in donations to Forest and Bird.
Interest in the Forest and Bird competition carried over into 2024, with vote rates higher than average.
Last year, the Yellow-eyed Penguin / Hoiho prevailed.
Check out the Forest and Bird website to read about past winners, donate to conservation efforts, and vote for your favourite New Zealand bird in the 2025 competition (voting opens in September).
Made with Quarto