In this week's episode of Last Week Tonight, Mr Oliver launched a campaign for the Australasian crested grebe (pūteketeke) in Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Century competition.
The comedian said he was so smitten with pūteketeke he paid for billboards promoting the bird in India, Japan, France, the US, and hired a plane to tow a banner promoting the pūteketeke and fly over Ipanema Beach in Brazil.
A truck driving the streets of London called on people to ‘‘help us crown a real king’’.
In New Zealand his promotional signs for pūteketeke looked like movie posters for ‘‘Lord of the Wings’’.
Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust trustee Gus Griffin said for Mr Oliver it was a missed opportunity during ‘‘the most important election of our time’’.
‘‘We are surprised that a talk show host who is as vocal as John Oliver wouldn’t back a bird whose te reo name [hoiho] roughly translates to ‘noise shouter’.
‘‘With their beautiful yellow eyes and long slender beaks, the hoiho are the obvious candidate.’’
On Saturday, from 5pm to 10pm at the Caledonian Ground a group of up to 30 trust supporters would run the 400m track, hoping to reach 160 laps - about the number of hoiho nests on New Zealand’s mainland last season.
There would be a food truck, trust merchandise, and a QR code to encourage supporters to vote for hoiho as Bird of the Century.
‘‘People are welcome to dress as penguins. We will be coming as penguins.
‘‘And they’re also welcome to come dressed as themselves as well,’’ Mr Griffin said.
Meanwhile, Wānaka grebe supporters said the bird’s sudden leap to stardom was ‘‘well-earned’’.
Southern Lakes Sanctuary Upper Clutha community co-ordinator Petrina Duncan, a Wānaka conservationist who works with grebes locally, said she was now ‘‘preparing for a potential win for the grebes’’.
The bird’s sudden rise to fame had come as a ‘‘bit of a surprise’’, but it was well deserved as the nationally vulnerable birds represented ‘‘a bit of a conservation success story’’.
‘‘Grebes have actually gone up in numbers over the last 30 years, especially in Otago,’’ she said.
In celebration of Forest & Bird’s 100th birthday, the environmental organisation expanded its annual Bird of the Year poll to Bird of the Century.
A Bird of the Century spokeswoman said Forest & Bird welcomed ‘‘all efforts’’ to promote native birds ‘‘whether that's an international TV personality using humour to spotlight an underappreciated, but nationally vulnerable species, kids in a classroom creating awesome bird art, or indeed a local trust running a grassroots event’’.
‘‘If you want a different bird to be your Bird of the Century, we encourage all New Zealanders to mobilise and vote.’’
- Additional reporting Regan Harris
