Black Robin Bounces Back from 5 Birds to 350 in NZ

A bird that once had just five members left in the entire world just won New Zealand's most popular wildlife contest.

The karure, or black robin, took home the 2026 Bird of the Year crown after a tight race that drew record participation. More than 105,000 New Zealanders voted this year, roughly one in every 50 Kiwis showing up to pick their favorite bird.

The black robin's victory makes perfect sense when you hear its story. In 1980, only five of these small birds remained on the Chatham Islands, and just one of them was a fertile female. The odds looked impossible.

But the Chatham Islands community and the Wildlife Service refused to give up. They worked tirelessly with a single breeding pair, affectionately called Old Blue and Old Yellow. Today, around 350 adult black robins live on two pest-free nature reserve islands.

The tiny bird beat out early favorite the kākāpō to claim its first-ever win. It competed in the "Shy Birds" category, found only on the remote Rēkohu Chatham Islands off New Zealand's coast.

The Ripple Effect

The conservation win is opening doors for more progress. All the good black robin territories on the two islands are now occupied, meaning the population needs a third home to keep growing.

The Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust is making this expansion a real possibility. Pitt Island, sitting right between the two existing nature reserves, could become that crucial third home for these resilient birds.

The contest's popularity is spreading awareness beyond the winner. Eight of the top 10 finishers are birds in serious trouble, and 80 percent of New Zealand's native birds face some level of threat.

"One thing we heard again and again from voters was, 'I didn't realise how many of our birds are in trouble,'" says Rebecca Hatch from Forest & Bird. Many New Zealanders love nature but assume it's doing fine without checking.

From five birds to 350, and now a national spotlight, the black robin proves that determined communities can write incredible comeback stories.