Bird saved from extinction named New Zealand’s Bird of the Year

The bird from the Chatham Islands overtook the kākāpō, which led in the early stages of voting.

The New Zealand falcon finished third.

The black robin’s recovery is a conservation success story. In 1980, only five birds remained worldwide, including just one fertile female. Local residents and Wildlife Service staff began rebuilding the population from a single breeding pair: a female named Old Blue and a male named Old Yellow.

Today, around 350 adult birds live on two pest-free nature reserve islands. However, the species remains classified as Nationally Critical under New Zealand’s conservation status system.

A shortage of suitable habitat has become the main obstacle to further population growth. Nearly all suitable territories on the two islands are already occupied, prompting conservationists to call for a third population to be established.

One potential location is Pitt Island, which lies between the two reserves. A project to remove feral cats is being prepared there. Restoring the island’s habitat could also benefit other rare birds, as the Chatham Islands support 20% of New Zealand’s threatened bird species.

This year’s competition adopted an election campaign format. Bird candidates were grouped into “parties,” with each vote counting toward both the individual bird’s total and its party’s tally. Tree Birds won the party vote with around 101,000 votes.

According to the organizers, 88% of votes came from within New Zealand. This marked a record for domestic participation, although the overall turnout did not surpass previous editions that attracted more international voters.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that a camera trap in Kazakhstan’s Charyn National Park recorded four bird species: the great egret, ruddy shelduck, mallard and northern pintail.