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The recovery of the Chatham Islands black robin from the brink of extinction
is an internationally renowned conservation success story.
In 1980 there were only five black robins in the world, with just a
single breeding pair left and confined to the tiny, almost inacessible
Little Mangere Island. The survival of the species hinged on that last
pair. A desperate and innovative management regime was quickly put into
action by the New Zealand Wildlife Service (now Dept of Conservation)
that resulted in robins being moved to Mangere island and then
Rangatira and resulted in a successful population turnaround. Today,
the population stands at around 200 adult birds.
Efforts to to establish black robins in the
predator-fenced Ellen Elizabeth Preece Conservation Covenant on Pitt
Island have thus far failed, with the most likely cause of translocation failure was mice competing
for the robin's insect and spider food. Mice are not present on the
mammal-free nature reserves offshore but are present on Pitt Island.
'Spike', the last robin to persist in the covenant, was last seen in
October 2007.
Because the black robin still has such a small population it is
classified as critically-endangered. The species is currently confined
to Rangatira and Mangere Nature Reserves to which public entry is not
permitted.
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Black robin
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