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The annual bird competition acts as a welcome antidote to an ever more grim news cycle, honoring Australia's remarkable and distinctive native wildlife. But, it's additionally a contest of statistics.

Using history as a indicator, over 300,000 votes are expected to be cast over a nine-day period, beginning at 6am AEDT on 6 October, as people from across the globe select their favourite Australian bird species for 2025.

The victorious aviator (assuming it is a flying species – probable, but not guaranteed) will be elevated alongside prior winners: the Australian magpie, the black-throated finch, the superb fairy-wren and 2023’s champion, the swift parrot.

Australia has about 850 native bird species. Almost half are not found anywhere else on the planet. That total has been narrowed to 50 for this year’s voting, partly based on thousands of reader nominations.

While you are considering how to vote, here are some other numbers to ponder.

A growing number of bird species are not in a great way. The national authorities lists 164 as threatened. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, 11 birds have been added to the list since the last bird of the year vote two years ago.

At least 22 species and subspecies have already been driven to extinction, mostly in the years after European colonisation.

Most urgently, there are 18 bird species classified as severely threatened, placing them just one step from extinction. They encompass some regular contenders: the regent honeyeater, the far eastern curlew and the swift and orange-bellied parrots. They may soon be accompanied by others, such as Baudin’s black cockatoo.

It is hoped that actions needed to save them – and the approximately 2,000 other species and ecological communities considered at risk – will be at the centre of the government’s work to revise the national nature law later this year.

Why this is important, and what birds signify to people, has already been the central theme of a series of introductory stories, photos, videos and artwork over the past three weeks. There’s plenty more to come.

But, for now, the number to focus on is: one.

Each day, everyone has one vote to allocate to their favourite bird that remains in the competition.

At the end of each day, the five birds that received the least votes will be removed from the race. The final round of voting will take place on Tuesday the 14th, when only 10 birds will be left. That voting closes at 6am on Wednesday the 15th.

The winner will be revealed in a live stream at midday the next day.

In the words of BirdLife Australia’s Sean Dooley – a driving force behind bird of the year – the coming days will be a “joyous celebration of the birds that save us” and a “rallying cry for us to work harder to save them”.

It should also be plenty of fun. Time to get voting.