Black robin wins New Zealand’s Bird of the Year
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The karure black robin, a small bird from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, won the annual Bird of the Year competition run by Forest and Bird.
The black robin placed first, beating the kākāpō and kārearea into second and third place. This victory marks the first time the black robin has topped the poll, despite previous close calls. Conservation efforts helped the black robin recover from a low of just five birds in the 1980s to approximately 350 today.
Forest and Bird noted the species remains critically endangered because its current island habitats are becoming crowded. The Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust is working to remove feral cats from Pitt Island to create space for a new black robin population. This year’s election saw a record number of votes from New Zealand residents, with 98,920 validated votes cast.
The surge in local participation contrasts with last year’s Bird of the Century election, which drew the majority of its votes from international voters, and the 2023 race, which saw nearly 300,000 votes cast for the pūteketeke due to a campaign by US talkshow host John Oliver.
