WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Comedian John Oliver has succeeded in his campaign to have what he describes as a weird, puking bird with a colorful mullet win New Zealands Bird of the Century contest.

He managed to elbow out the iconic national bird, the kiwi.

Conservation group Forest and Bird on Wednesday announced that Olivers favored water bird, the pteketeke, had won after Oliver went all-out in a humorous campaign for the bird on his HBO show Last Week Tonight. The North Island brown kiwi came in second.

Vote checkers in New Zealand were so overwhelmed by Olivers foreign interference they had to postpone naming the winning bird for two days.

Usually billed Bird of the Year, the annual event is held to raise awareness about the plight of the nations native birds, some of which have been driven to extinction. This year, the contest was named Bird of the Century to mark the groups centennial.

Oliver discovered a loophole in the rules, which allowed anybody with a valid email address to cast a vote.

Oliver had a billboard erected for The Lord of the Wings in New Zealands capital, Wellington. He also put up billboards in Paris, Tokyo, London, and Mumbai, India. He had a plane with a banner fly over Ipanema Beach in Brazil. And he wore an oversized bird costume on Jimmy Fallons The Tonight Show.

After all, this is what democracy is all about, Oliver said on his show. America interfering in foreign elections.