Black Robin

The Black Robin

Chatham Islands Old Blue Resources

An amazing story of survival.

In 1980 there were only 5 black robins in the whole world.

Now the number is around 250!

Keep reading to learn all about this wonderful little bird and how it nearly became extinct.....

Old Blue, The famous Black Robin

The black robin is also known as the Chatham Islands black robin.

The black robin's scientific name is Petroica traversi.

It is only found on the Chatham Islands, which means it is endemic to the Chatham Islands.

The black robin is a species of New Zealand robin.

The New Zealand robin got its name because it is similar to the European robin, but it is not related.

The Black Robin

gets its name from the sooty black colour of its feathers, legs, feet and bill – it's an easy name to remember!

Their eyes are dark brown
Black robins can live to be 6-13 years old
They usually stay with their breeding partner for life
They generally start to breed at two years of age
Females are usually smaller than males
Black robins have a beautiful song, which can be heard a lot during the breeding season
They are territorial – the males will patrol and defend their areas and females have also been known to chase away other females
The birds will moult between December and March
They are about the size of a sparrow with longer legs
Black robins will hunt for food during the day and night

They have good sight for seeing in the dark
They live in woody vegetation, under the canopy of trees - beneath the branches of the akeake trees
They make short flights from branch to branch and do not fly long distances
To shelter from the strong winds and rough seas around the islands the black robin spends a lot of its time in the lower branches of the forest
They prefer flat areas of the forest with deep ‘litter’ layers. [‘Litter’ on the forest floor is made up of dead and composting leaves and other vegetation and invertebrates. The forest ‘litter’ is full of food for the black robin.]
Black robins like to eat grubs, cockroaches, weta and worms

Breeding.....

Taking food to the chicks

The female robin will make the nest and while she lays and incubates the eggs the male will feed the female so she can rest.

Black robins like to nest in hollow trees and tree stumps.

Eggs are laid between early October and late December. A second clutch may be laid if the first is unsuccessful. Generally two eggs are laid but it is sometimes just one, or maybe three. Eggs are creamy in colour with purple splotches.

When the eggs are laid the female will sit on them to keep them warm until they hatch in about 18 days. Then both parents will help to feed the chicks.

Chicks often spend the first day or two, after leaving the nest, on the ground – a dangerous place to be for a defenceless chick if there are enemies around!

Young robins stay in the nest for about 23 days after hatching, but even after leaving the nest the parents will continue to feed them until they are about 65 days old. This is much longer than other birds of the black robins size.

A Story Of Survival

For hundreds of years the black robin has lived on the Chatham Islands, making their homes on many of the islands. But by 1900, after people had settled on some of the islands the black robin could only be found on Little Mangere Island.

Little Mangere Island is small and has cliffs about 200 metres tall – making it safe from people and animal enemies. This harsh place was safe from predators but was so small and wind-swept that it was not an easy place for the black robins to live and breed. In fact the island was battered so badly by the wind that it was eroding away and the black robin’s food and shelter was disappearing. The black robin’s tiny wings were not strong enough for them to fly away to find another home.

In 1972 wildlife officers could find only 18 black robins living on Little Mangere Island!

In 1976 there were only seven birds left and they were all moved to Mangere Island where the bush was healthier and where 120,000 new trees had been planted. The members of Forest and Bird had helped to buy Mangere Island and the trees that were planted there so the black robin would have a better home.

By 1980 though, there were only five black robins left.

It was the rarest bird in the world!

Only 5 in the whole world – 3 males and 2 females.

They needed more help!

Don Merton, who worked for the Wildlife Service, hatched a plan to save the black robin.

Learn about the bird that saved the black robin from becoming extinct....

Old Blue

From the summer of 1980/81 to 1988/89, Don Merton's plan was in action.....

When a robin nested, wildlife officers would carefully move the eggs to a Chatham Island Warbler's nest. When the robin discovered her eggs had gone she would lay more. As it turned out, Warblers did not make good foster parents because they could not keep up with the feeding when the chicks hatched.

Wow, these black robin chicks are hungry!

From 1981 eggs were moved to the nests of Chatham Island tomtits that live on South East Island. Tomtits made good foster parents but the trouble was the young black robins began to think they were tomtits! They sang tomtit songs and wouldn’t pair with other black robins. To get over this problem the young birds were returned to robins' nests for the last few days of living in the nest.

The fostering programme was successful and in 1983 two pairs of black robins were moved permanently to South East Island to start a new black robin colony.

Chatham Island tomtit feeding black robin chicks.
This picture was taken by Don Merton.

The Wildlife Service changed to be the Department of Conservation in 1987.	The fostering programme used to save the black robin was so successful that it has been used as an example of how to save endangered birds around the world – how lucky New Zealand is to have such wonderful conservation officers and volunteers!
	WOW! What an amazing story!

The black robin population is up to about 250.

The main population of black robins now lives on South East Island, which has more homes and food for the black robins because it is much larger and has more forest area than Mangere Island.
The total of 250 black robins was from both islands. It's not possible to get an exact count because many of the younger birds do not have coloured leg bands.
Rats and possums have never reached the islands where the black robin is living and cats are no longer present on Mangere.
Black robins are safe from pests in their island homes but sometimes larger bird species break their eggs.
All the black robins alive are descended from just one pair, Old Blue and Old Yellow. They are the most inbred wild bird species.
One problem is that all the black robins have similar DNA. This means that each bird will have similar weaknesses and strengths. Unfortunately this means that they could be killed by a single disease.
The good news is that they have survived this far – even with similar DNA, lots of predators and losing their homes to farms.
The black robin population is getting too big for Mangere and South East Islands so many chicks have no where to go and just die. DoC would like to move some of the black robins to Pitt Island.
The Department of Conservation hopes to clear Pitt Island of pests, like the feral cats, to give the black robin a bigger home, and to return them to their ancestral home - Little Mangere - where the vegetation is now regenerating.

Thanks to all the people who worked so hard in the Chatham Islands the black robin is not extinct - let's keep it that way!

If you would like to learn more about the black robin, check out the Black Robin - Resources page.

The Black Robin information was written in January 2000, updated April 2001.