A Win For Freaks Everywhere As The Tawny Frogmouth Crowned 2025 ‘Bird Of The Year’

In what has been described as ‘the biggest win for the hideous and peculiar in recent memory’, the tawny frogmouth has been crowned the ‘2025 Australian Bird of The Year’. With Birdlife and Guardian Australia running the public poll every two years, the tawny frogmouth found itself runner-up to way sexier birds for the last three consecutive polls, coming off second-best to the black-throated finch, superb fairywren and swift parrot, from 2019-2023 respectively. In a case of ‘always the bridesmaid, finally the bride’, the tawny frogmouth secured top spot for 2025 with 11,851 votes, well clear of the far hotter Baudin black cockatoo's 7,688 votes.

Avid birdwatchers have since flooded social media with posts celebrating ‘bird positivity’ and challenging the conventional standards of beauty that have previously dominated bird-related polls.

“The notion that a bird’s looks determines their value to society is outdated and insane”, said one passionate poster, “does a bird only deserve love if it’s bright green or has big fan-like tailfeathers? Society is finally taking note that ‘pretty’ does not mean ‘best’.”

Another post in support of Australia’s newest champion read, “The tawny frogmouth has shown us all what’s possible. No frills, no schmoozing, brown-ish looking, gross as face, weird beak, wide-set eyes, does fuck all that I’m aware of, and yet it’s the 2025 Australian Bird Of The Year.”

“I sit here, an adult man, unemployed, with fingers covered in Dorito dust, in front of my mum’s TV as I wait for my Playstation to boot up, feeling inspired… there’s hope for all of us.”

Acts of romantic courage are expected to triple this week as unsightly and odd people everywhere feel the wind blown into their sails by the tawny frogmouth’s underdog triumph, and are reminded that their feeling of self worth should never be dictated by others, unless it’s a formal national poll voted on by the general public.

Experts anticipate festivities will continue for months as the tawny frogmouth ushers in a new era of ‘bird positivity’ that, as one fan on social media posted, "highlights the idea that it’s not looks, or size, or function, or really any definable positive quality that defines who we are or our ‘value’. All of us, bird or human, or reptile or, like, whatever slugs’s category is, we all have inherent value worth celebrating.”  “So really, each and every one of us is the ‘Guardian Australia and BirdLife’s 2025 Australian Bird Of The Year’.”

More to come.

RUTH HOOVER - Lifestyle