Vancouver City Bird competition down to the wire

Bird Week in Vancouver officially wraps up Saturday with the announcement of the city bird for 2015. Nearly half a million votes have been cast so far better than any municipal election!

The City of Vancouver has chosen six birds that live here all year and opened voting on April 13. The winning bird will be used to promoteBird Week in 2015.

The six candidates all on Twitterare:

• Anna's Hummingbird
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Varied Thrush
• Pacific Wren
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker

The city says the contest is designed to raise awareness about the diversity of birds in Vancouver and their importance to a healthy ecosystem.

At the time of writing, it was still a tight race, with theBlack-Capped Chickadee andVaried Thrush almost tying for the lead and Anna's Hummingbird coming in a close third.

You can still vote on the Vancouver City Bird Competition website here. Voting ends May 10.

The winning bird last year, named City Bird 2014, was theNorthwestern Crow.