The current state of play for BOTYT2026-NZ

With only nine days left for voting, the ACAP-listed and Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi is now eighth on the leader board for New Zealand’s annual Bird of the Year competition (BOTY2026-NZ).  Respectable, maybe, as the highest-scoring procellariform seabird out of 70-odd candidates.  But still a long way off the podium!

You can vote for the Northern Royal Albatross, and for its two fellow ACAP-listed species, the Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni and the Endangered Westland Petrel P. westlandica, among the package of five candidates required to be chosen here.  Voting closes on 20 September, with the winner to be announced the next day.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 11 September 2026