Two islands, a world apart.
One sits at the edge of the Atlantic, cosy and close with its European neighbours. One spun out into the wild Pacific, with 2,000 kilometres of ocean between it and Australia.
New Zealand and (some of) Ireland were once both part of the super continent Gondwana before they went very separate ways.
Cue millions of years of plate movements, of ice ages and warming, of mass extinctions and evolution.
Which leads us to the most important question of our time: which nation ended up the richer, the weirder, the better off for birds?
Who will win the title of smartest – the kea or the northern raven? Photo: Kea – Jamie McAualay, Raven – Birdwatch Ireland.
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Welcome to the Great Ireland versus New Zealand Bird-Off. Undoubtedly the most important contest between these two nations likely to happen any time soon.
In a unique and unknowable competition format and scoring system, representatives from each nation will put forward candidate birds for each category to be judged by presenter Claire Concannon.
Let’s meet the representatives.
Ireland – Ricky Whelan
Hailing from the very centre of the country, Ricky is the biodiversity officer at Offaly County Council, and has been working as a conservationist and ornithologist for over 15 years. He likes long walks in the bog, topping up his bird feeders and extolling the virtues of crows to whoever will listen to him.
Ricky also co-hosts the In Your Nature podcast with Niall Hatch and Birdwatch Ireland. Ask him your corvid questions on X (Twitter) or Instagram.
Biodiversity officer and nature podcast co-host Ricky Whelan will be repping Ireland's birds. Photo: Ricky Whelan / Supplied
New Zealand – Jamie McAulay
A conservation biologist based in Te Anau, Jamie loves big mountains, deep fiords and lots of rain. Oh, and birds. He really likes birds. Out on the front lines of conservation, Jamie’s got tales of cuddling kiwi, catching tītipounamu in the snow, and crazy kea antics.
Jamie posts about his research and conservation work on Instagram and you can learn about his research on alpine pests on YouTube.
Repping New Zealand's birds is conservation biologist Jamie McAulay. Photo: Jamie McAulay / Supplied
The match-ups
Which bird will take out the 'most connected' category – the social media maestro Sirocco the kākāpō? Or the swallow, long-time herald of the summer? Kākāpō image – Department of Conservation CC BY 2.0, Swallow – Birdwatch Ireland. Photo: RNZ, Birdwatch Ireland, Department of Conservation
Ireland and New Zealand birds will be put head-to-head to compete for each category. Which bird is the smartest – the northern raven or the mischievous kea? The biggest? The smallest? Which is the most connected bird that brings their nation on to the global stage?
Points will be awarded; a winner will be crowned.
Listen to find out which birds rise to victory, and which are disqualified on account of no longer existing. Plus learn about bird facts, evolution quirks and conservation efforts in both nations along the way.
To learn more:
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Listen to this Tune in to Nature episode about New Zealand’s smallest bird entry, the tītipounamu, on Otago Peninsula.
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The research into the problem solving and tool use abilities of kea and New Caledonian crows can be found in PLOS ONE and includes videos of their impressive skills. We also recently discussed their pranks and whether they can experience positive emotions with researcher Professor Ximena Nelson.
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Sirocco isn’t the only one who likes to talk about kākāpō – we’ve got an entire dedicated series called The Kākāpō Files, and RNZ recently covered the news of their mainland move.
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Moa are unfortunately extinct, but sound engineers working with Te Papa recreated what they might have sounded like.
