People just think they are another duck until they see one, says Tracey Hickman, Genesis Energy's executive general manager for generation and wholesale.

She's talking about the blue duck, now more commonly referred to as the whio, which makes its home on many of the rivers on which power generator Genesis has powerstations.

Hickman saw her first whio 15 years ago, and was immediately struck by the realisation they were not just another duck.

"They were remarkable in terms of their colour, and their ability to sit still on fast-flowing water."

Calling whio blue does them a disservice, as did their drab image on the old $10 banknote.

But in 2015, the new "brighter banknotes" put a much truer image of the whio into the nation's wallets and purses capturing the subtle colours of their plumagerunning through blue, grey and russet.

In the 15 years Forest and Bird has been running its Bird of the Year competition, Kea, kokako (on the $50 banknote), Bar-tailed Godwit, Fairy Tern, Mohua (on the $100 note),New Zealand Falcon (on the $20), kakariki, Kiwi, Kakapo, Grey Warbler, Fantail and Tui carried off the honour. Even the humble Pukeko, which introduced itself from Australia, wasnamed bird of the year in 2011.

But the whio has never won enough public votes to get to the top of the list. This year, the public ranked it 8th.

To read the complete article, see:
Double the duck: Securing the future of the duck on the $10note (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/107994986/double-the-duck-securing-the-future-of-the-duck-on-the-10-note)