From just five surviving birds to becoming Aotearoa’s favourite manu, karure the black robin has completed an extraordinary comeback by winning Bird of the Year 2026.
The tiny manu from Rēkohu Chatham Islands topped a record-breaking competition involving more than 105,000 voters, with 88 percent of votes coming from within New Zealand. Karure finished with 25,610 votes, ahead of kākāpō on 19,445 and kārearea on 17,423.
The victory adds another chapter to one of Aotearoa’s greatest conservation stories.
By 1980, only five karure remained, including a single fertile female known as Old Blue. Conservation work involving the Chatham Islands community and the Wildlife Service rebuilt the population from a single breeding pair, Old Blue and Old Yellow.
Today around 350 adult birds live on two pest-free nature reserves, but karure remains Nationally Critical and its existing habitat is nearing capacity. Conservationists say establishing a third population will be essential if numbers are to continue growing.
Restoration and predator-control work on Pitt Island could eventually provide another safe home, while also helping protect the wider biodiversity of the Chathams, which supports around 20 percent of New Zealand’s threatened bird species.
Forest & Bird says the fun of Bird of the Year carries a serious conservation message, with around 80 percent of Aotearoa’s native birds facing some level of trouble.
For karure, however, 2026 belongs to the little battler from Rēkohu — from five birds on the brink of extinction to number one in Aotearoa.
#BirdOfTheYear #BirdOfTheYear2026 #Karure #BlackRobin #Rēkohu #ChathamIslands #Manu #NativeBirds #Conservation #Kaitiakitanga #TeTaiao #PredatorFree #Biodiversity #PittIsland #Kākāpō #Kārearea #Aotearoa #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea
