WELLINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Karure black robin, a critically endangered bird native to New Zealand's Chatham Islands, has won the 2026 Bird of the Year competition after receiving 25,610 votes, Forest & Bird said on Monday.
The closely contested election attracted a record 105,000 voters, with about 88 percent of votes cast from within New Zealand, according to the New Zealand's conservation organization.
Kakapo, a flightless, nocturnal parrot native to New Zealand, finished second with 19,445 votes, followed by karearea, or New Zealand falcon, with 17,423 votes, according to the results.
Karure black robins are a conservation success story. In 1980, only five birds remained, including the only fertile female. A recovery effort by the Chatham Islands community and the Wildlife Service, now the Department of Conservation, began with a single breeding pair, Forest & Bird said in a statement.
There are now about 350 adult black robins living on two pest-free nature reserve islands. However, the suitable habitat on the islands is nearly at capacity, with all suitable territories occupied, it said, adding that a third population on another island is needed for the species to continue growing.
Forest & Bird said that conservation work on Pitt Island, which sits right between the two nature reserves, could provide safer habitat for the black robin and benefit the wider biodiversity of the Chatham Islands, which supports 20 percent of New Zealand's threatened bird species. ■
