Kicker: New Zealand’s Bird of the Year

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The feathers really flew in New Zealand’s latest election! The annual Bird of the Year poll crowned the champion as the karearea falcon! It’s a lightning-fast raptor that eats its rivals for breakfast!

SOUND: [Falcon screech]

The falcon is even on New Zealand’s twenty dollar note, flipside of Queen Elizabeth the Second.

Nicola Toki is Forest and Bird Chief Executive.

TOKI: They are fierce. They are the spitfire of the bird world, and one of our most effective and one of a handful of avian predators.

Move over Kiwi! This falcon just dive-bombed its way to the top perch.

SOUND: [Falcon screech]

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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