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Hilpoltstein / Berlin (dpa) - The Corona crisis has also changed people's view of nature.

What flies, crawls and grows in front of our house has become more conscious of many people.

Not much happens, you can watch the birds in front of the window for hours and then proudly post the pictures of the new bird feeder, which thanks to the webcam allows particularly close views.

The area's pair of crows, the squirrel from the backyard and other animals in the immediate vicinity have become popular small talk topics, which are supplied daily with walnuts.

It is hardly surprising that the robin - Germany's most popular songbird - is the “Bird of the Year” in 2021.

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The German Nature Conservation Union (Nabu) and the Bavarian State Association for Bird Protection (LBV) have been awarding the title for 50 years.

But in the anniversary year, the population of Germany's super bird was allowed to vote for the first time.

On Friday evening, Nabu and LBV announced the feathered election winner via live stream on the Internet - and it remained exciting until the last minute.

For weeks, the robin and the barn swallow competed head-to-head, followed by the lapwing, skylark, city pigeon, house sparrow, golden plover, blue tit, kingfisher and blackbird.

On Friday, the robin narrowly decided the race for itself.

Many election campaign teams went to the end to catch votes for their favorites - and that these are always good for a surprise was already shown in the preliminary round, when the ten finalists were chosen from among the 307 native species.

There the city pigeon - a rather polarizing bird - landed in first place to the amazement of the conservationists and thus also in the final.

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The writer Saša Stanišić probably helped the golden plover, unknown to many people because it was rare, to reach the finals.

With pithy sayings, cute photos and a lot of interesting facts, he got the message across on social media.

And not just there.

Stanišić enthuses in an interview with Deutschlandfunk that his favorite bird's magnificent dress is beautiful to look at.

"It's speckled with gold and shimmers incredibly beautifully in the sun."

With his election campaign he wanted to help the endangered Goldi - as his fans affectionately call him - to gain more visibility.

What succeeded: The outsider was able to conquer 7th place.

Sebastian Amler argues that the lapwing is also endangered.

"The lapwing is a beautiful bird with its eye-catching plumage and shimmering plumage," he emphasizes.

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With the campaign slogan “Small fields and wet too, that's fun for our lapwing!”, His team from the LBV district group in Fürth was able to collect numerous votes for the acrobat and was recently just behind the “Golden Plover Ultras” in the ranking of the most successful campaigners »By Saša Stanišić.

In the end, Amler's favorite ended up in third place.

According to the LBV, however, the endangerment of a bird is not decisive for it to be “Bird of the Year”.

Usually the “Birds of the Year” represent a larger nature conservation issue.

But this year people should simply choose their favorite bird, regardless of whether its habitat is particularly valuable or whether it inspires ornithologists.

According to Nabu, more than 340,000 bird fans have done so in the past two months.

“The cinemas and theaters are closed.

But the birds are always outside and sing, ”explains Stefanie Bernhardt from the LBV in Hilpoltstein, explaining the large participation.

Since last year, the LBV has clearly noticed that there is more interest in birds: noticeably more people have contacted the Internet and the hotline who have questions about bird identification, the right feeding place or self-mixed feed, says Bernhardt.

Silvia Teich from Nabu is therefore not surprised that the robin makes the hearts of many voters beat faster: “It is totally popular.

It's cute - and everyone has seen it before. "

The experts also have a lot to love with the songbird with the orange breast - because of its wonderful song and because it is so trusting that it can hop on your spade when you garden in winter, says Wolfgang Fiedler, President of the German Ornithological Society.

The robin is also well suited as a bird protection ambassador, because it does not feel comfortable in barren gravel gardens and on well-tended lawns with conifers.

"If all of our gardens and green spaces were at least suitable for robins, we would have won a lot."

The nature conservation associations were definitely convinced by the great enthusiasm for the choice.

In the future, the population will always be able to choose the “Bird of the Year” from five species of birds, announced Nabu Federal Managing Director Leif Miller during the award ceremony.

The choice was an experiment that was definitely a success.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210320-99-898445 / 3

Bird of the year