'Weird puking bird' wins New Zealand's bird election

Auckland: A peculiar bird that vomits, makes strange sounds and has a bizarre mating dance has won New Zealand's annual avian beauty contest after British-American comedian John Oliver rallied people around the world to vote for the bird.

The Puteketeke, an unlikely winner, became New Zealand's Bird of the Century after Oliver launched a humorous campaign for the bird on his HBO show "Last Week Tonight."

"Puteketeke began as an outside contender for Bird of the Century but was catapulted to the top spot thanks to its unique looks, adorable parenting style and propensity for puking," Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said.

Every year, the New Zealand conservation group Forest and Bird holds a competition — usually billed Bird of the Year — to raise awareness about the country's native birds. But this year the contest was named Bird of the Century to mark the group's centennial.

The Puteketeke, dubbed as the "weird puking bird" was an unexpected winner. It won after Oliver noticed a loophole in the competition rules that allowed people from all parts of the world to vote in the competition.

Exploiting the loophole, Oliver went on a full-fledged campaign to get people from across the world to vote for the bird.

Oliver had a billboard erected for "The Lord of the Wings" in New Zealand's capital, Wellington.

He also put up billboards in Paris, Tokyo, London and Mumbai, India. He had a plane with a banner fly over Ipanema Beach in Brazil. And he wore an oversized bird costume on Jimmy Fallon's "The Tonight Show."

Organizers were soon inundated with so many votes in favor of Puteketeke that they had to delay naming the winning bird for two days. The competition received more than 350,000 verified votes from 195 countries.