New Zealand's bird of the year may actually be — a bat?

Update: After this article was published, the short-tailed bat was declared the winner of New Zealand's 2021 Bird of the Year competition.

For 16 years, birds across New Zealand have battled each other in a gripping competition to be named Bird of the Year. But this year's front-runner is the native bat — a fact that has ruffled some feathers.

"It's true. There is a sneaky mammal who only comes out at night and has snuck its way into the bird list," Bird of the Year spokesperson Laura Keown told As It Happens host Carol Off.

Bird of the Year is a fun competition in which politicians get involved and people make memes and even fake Tinder accounts on behalf of the birds to garner votes, Keown says.

In the course of that process, she says people also get to learn about the many species that are in danger of becoming extinct. 

Hunters and predators, often mammals, have long threatened New Zealand's native birds, which is why the long-tailed bat, or pekapeka-tou-roa in Maori, one of New Zealand's only land-based native mammals, is a controversial contender.

One Twitter user said that a mammal has hijacked the competition, while another made a point to clarify that bats are not, in fact, birds.

But Keown defended the bat's inclusion. She says it's unfortunate that bats now remind some people of the global pandemic, as the coronavirus may have have spread from bats to another animal before affecting humans

"Hopefully, if our bat kind of makes history by winning a bird contest, they can get famous for that instead," she said.

Plus, she says, the bats are at risk of habitat loss, as they roost inside the nooks and hollows of New Zealand's old growth trees. 

"It's a pretty special little species and it doesn't get much attention all on its own in its own category over there," Keown said.

"Mammal of the Year was going to be a really boring competition, so we thought it was a great awareness-raising opportunity ... and they just jumped on the list with the rest of the birds."

Once, there were three species of bats native to the New Zealand: the long-tailed bat, the short-tailed bat and the greater short-tailed bat, which is believed to have gone extinct. The long-tailed bat is classified as "nationally critical" while the short-tailed bat is vulnerable, but recovering.

By including pekapeka-tou-roa, Keown says the contest hopes to raise awareness about the threats facing both long- and short-tailed bats.

Pekapeka-tou-roa bats are quite small, with a wingspan around the size of an outstretched hand, and a furry body about the size of a thumb. 

When they wake up at dusk, they fly up to 60 kilometres an hour and use echolocation calls to hunt for moths, mosquitos and other crawling insects. 

"They're really great for controlling insects," Keown said. "And they're also really cute."

Written by Mehek Mazhar. Interview with Laura Keown produced by Ashley Fraser.