Golden Plover Wins

Eurovision critics inclined to say that the Song Contest is for the birds might be heartened to know that this year’s extravaganza really has been—for birds, that is.

A Golden Plover from Iceland Friday walked, or rather flew away with the first ever Eurovision Bird Song Contest—modeled after its counterpart for humans to be held here in Estonia the following day. The winner was named at a news conference at the Tallinn Zoo, not far from several caged lions and bears, and just across from the venue for the better known contest featuring non-feathered singers from 24 mostly European nations.

The 21 competing birds, including a Slovenian red-breasted Flycatcher and Maltese Shearwater, didn’t participate live, but sang—sometimes squawked, crowed or clucked—in 30-second recordings on the Eurovision Bird Song website. The birds _ nominated by ornithological societies—had to be native to a participating country or migrate through it to qualify.

The Golden Plover—or Pluvialis apricaria by its latin name—is a brownish, yellow-tinged bird that nests in Iceland’s lowlands and its call is regarded as a harbinger of spring on the North Atlantic island and other Nordic nations. “It doesn’t necessarily have a beautiful voice. It’s got more of a fluty call than a song,” said one of the contest organizers, Robert Oetjen. “But it’s interesting, and so lots of people voted for it.”

An estimated 30,000 people visited the site over the past four weeks to listen to the mp3 audio files of the bird songs and rate them from 1-5; the Golden Plover received the highest average rating, a 3.6, to take the title.

Second place went to a Belgian Bluethroat and a Belarussian Aquitic Warbler came in last. A panel of professional bird watchers named Estonia’s entrant, a Thrush Nightingale, as its favorite. They were less enamored with the Icelandic bird that won the popular vote, putting it in 14th place.

The competition was organized by Estonian environmentalists, who said their goal was to raise awareness about threats to European birds. One contest news release, headlined “Illegal Killing of Bird Eurovision Artist,” said millions songbirds are trapped in Cyprus each year, many for food. It said the Cypriot entry, a Blackcap, was among birds prized as a gourmet dish. “The Blackcap is better alive and singing than dead and pickled in a jar,” the statement said. It criticized the government in Cyprus for not enforcing bans on the practice and said similar killings were also common in Italy and France.

Top prize was a small trophy and “national honor”, said contest spokesman Kristjan Adjoaan. He said it wasn’t yet clear whether the contest would be held next year or whether the winning country would take the lead in organizing it. A local communications firm, Tele2, foot the 20,000-dollar bill to put on the event, the brainchild of Estonia’s Nature Fund and Ornithological Society. The Bird Song Contest was not formally sanctioned by the Eurovision Song Contest _ though organizers of that annual extravaganza gave their tacit approval, including by helping to publicize the birdsong competition.