Canberra, Oct 6 The bright green-coloured critically endangered Swift Parrot was announced as the winner of the 2023 Australian Bird of the Year on Friday after winning more than 11,000 votes in a biennial poll.
First initiated by bird conservation group BirdLife Australia and media outlet Guardian Australia in 2017, the fourth edition of the poll kicked off on September 25 with a line-up of 50 Australian native birds, while the bottom five species were eliminated at the end of each weekday, reports Xinhua news agency.
In Thursday's final count where all votes from earlier rounds were discarded, Swift Parrot edged past Tawny Frogmouth with a narrow 441-vote lead, and the latter finished as runner-up for 3rd time in a row.
Gang-gang Cockatoo secured the third place with 7,192 votes.
Swift Parrot, also known as Lathamus discolor, is a small, fast-flying, migratory bird that can be found in south-eastern Australia.
It is bright green with patches of red on the throat, chin, face and forehead.
The native species normally breeds in Australia's island state of Tasmania during spring and summer and then migrates to the mainland for winter.
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