Superb fairywren crowned 2021 Australian bird of the year winner in hotly contested vote

The superb fairywren has been voted bird of the year for 2021, narrowly defeating the tawny frogmouth in a nail-biting finish.

The winner of the Guardian Australia/Birdlife Australia poll was announced on Friday after more than 400,000 votes were cast during the 10-day competition.

The beloved small bird, which is showing signs of decline in its traditional habitat in urban areas, won with 13,998 votes, just ahead of the popular tawny frogmouth on 13,332.

The gang-gang cockatoo, which had strong backing from Canberra residents and those concerned about its likely endangered status, placed third with 12,836 votes.

The superb fairywren emerged as a clear favourite over the two weeks of the poll, regularly topping the daily count.

The male birds are recognisable by their blue feathers and the species has become famous for its polyamory and passion for sharing household labour.

Males leave the territory during the day and perform courtship displays to other females, but it is the females that ultimately control mate choice as well as the nest.

Holly Parsons is BirdLife Australia’s urban birds program manager and a superb fairywren supporter.

“It’s really exciting to see a bird that so many people love and appreciate take out the top prize,” she said.

“What’s great is that this is a bird that people can help at home. You can plant shrubs for them and create great habitat in your space to help these birds.”

This year’s poll featured a new voting system in which five birds were eliminated each day until 10 remained.

The reason for the change was to allow people to stay involved with the competition throughout and vote strategically each day to keep birds in the running.

The focus of this year’s poll was on the birds people know in their daily lives. Before the poll’s launch, BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley told Guardian Australia that 18 months with several lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic had led to a surge of interest in birds.

The other major feature of this year’s competition was to acknowledge what he called a “seismic shift” for many Australian birds as a result of the 2019-20 bushfire disaster, with the poll offering people a chance to show their support for the species they love.

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He said the superb fairywren was a perennial favourite and a bird people could still see in their parks and gardens.

“It’s hard not to love a fairywren,” Dooley said. “The worry for us is that they are becoming less common.

“We know they disappeared from the laneways of Sydney during the 80s and in the seven years of results from the Aussie Backyard Bird Count we have picked up a worrying decline in reporting rates for most cities, especially Melbourne where reported sightings dropped by around half over that time.”

Dooley said he had thought it might have been the gang-gang cockatoo’s year after it emerged as a favourite in the early days of voting and because it was front of mind for many people as a species badly affected by the bushfires.

He said it was also pleasing to see the regent honeyeater, a critically endangered species that placed sixth with 9,139 votes, receive such strong support from voters.

While many of the top 10 were birds people are familiar with, the regent honeyeater is more elusive.

“It was really gratifying to know that so many people connected with what is a stunning but otherwise obscure bird that is in real trouble,” Dooley said.

“The great thing about the bird of the year is that it has been a great way to celebrate the amazing diversity of Australia’s birds, and keep a national conversation going for almost two weeks!

“In a year of generally dismal news for birds, this competition has been a real boost to our spirits.”

• This article was amended on 11 October 2021 to correct the areas of decline for the fairywren