The great Ireland vs. New Zealand bird-off: Part 1

Welcome to the great Ireland vs New Zealand bird-off. Two islands, a world apart - but which country has the better birds? Two bird nerds champion their nation's birds across four categories in an avian battle for the ages, with Claire Concannon judging the best of the feathered best. Which country will emerge victorious? Listen to find out.

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?

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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.

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.

The match-ups

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. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details