One of Aotearoa’s most extraordinary conservation comeback stories has reached another milestone, with karure, the Chatham Islands black robin, crowned Bird of the Year 2026.
Jess Mackenzie from the Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust, which led the karure campaign, says the win has put a fresh national spotlight on a species that once came perilously close to extinction.
In 1980, just five karure remained, including only one fertile female, Old Blue. An intensive recovery programme involving the Chatham Islands community and conservationists rebuilt the population from Old Blue and her breeding partner Old Yellow. Today there are around 350 adult birds.
Karure secured 25,610 votes in this year’s Forest & Bird competition, ahead of kākāpō with 19,445 and kārearea with 17,423. A record 105,000 people participated, with 88 percent of votes coming from within Aotearoa.
But the remarkable recovery is far from finished. Karure remains Nationally Critical, and the two predator-free nature reserves where the population currently lives are approaching the limits of suitable habitat. Conservationists say establishing a third population will be crucial to securing the species’ future.
Attention is now turning to Pitt Island, where restoration and predator-control work could eventually create another safe home for karure while protecting other threatened species unique to Rēkohu Chatham Islands.
For Mackenzie and the Chathams community, the Bird of the Year victory is not simply about winning a popular vote. It is a chance to remind Aotearoa that one of our greatest conservation successes was achieved through decades of commitment — and that the mahi to protect karure for future generations continues.
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