Top Tweeter

It wasn't Andrea from Auckland, Betty from Brockville or Shady Sally from Shag Point.
New Zealand's Top Bird Of The Year is of the feathered variety.

photo: Stephen Jaquiery

The yellowhead (or mohua) has topped Forest and Bird's annual poll. The yellowhead is an endangered bird found in Otago, Fiordland and Southland, and features on the reverse of our NZ$100 note. The yellowhead has the status of a 'protected threatened endemic species'. Conservation efforts are being made to ensure its survival and populations have been established on several predator-free offshore islands.
Using the tagline "Vote mohua, not monorail", Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei drove the campaign to get people to vote for it. (This was a reference to a proposed monorail which would carry tourists from Queenstown to Te Anau.)
Forest and Bird's Kevin Hackwell says this year's poll, the ninth, was a great success:

Who?

Hippity-hop

"It's the biggest number ever - we had just over 10,000 votes last year and we've had closer to 13,000 so there's been a lot of interest."
In second place was the morepork (the native owl also known as a ruru), followed by the southern rockhopper penguin.