This tiny ‘goth’ bird was nearly extinct. Now it’s New Zealand’s Bird of the Year

Small, shy and clad head-to-claw in black, New Zealand ’s karure, or black robin, has been crowned the country’s 2026 Bird of the Year .

The critically threatened bird is found only on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of mainland New Zealand. The karure finished at the top of the pecking order with more than 25,000 votes, beating previous winners the kākāpō, a large flightless parrot, and the kārearea, or New Zealand falcon, into second and third place, respectively .

More than 105,000 people voted this year — roughly one in every 50 New Zealanders — according to Forest & Bird, the conservation group behind the competition, making it the highest number of votes in the contest’s history.

The record turnout was up from more than 75,000 people who cast ballots in 2025 , and a huge leap from the competition’s first edition two decades ago, when fewer than 900 votes were cast. This year, 88% of votes came from inside New Zealand — the highest ever turnout by New Zealanders.

But behind the karure’s goth exterior is an extraordinary survival story.

By 1980, the species had been reduced to just five birds. Only one was a fertile female, known as Old Blue. Conservationists began an intensive breeding program using Old Blue and a male, Old Yellow, as the founding pair, according to Forest & Bird.

Today, there are around 350 adult black robins living on two pest-free nature reserve islands, a recovery that helped put New Zealand conservation efforts on the international map.

“Thank you, Aotearoa!” the Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust, which campaigned for the karure, wrote on Facebook after the result, using the Māori name for New Zealand. The group said there was still lots of work to do to ensure the population continues to grow.

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Fat, flightless parrot named Bird of the Year after a campaign tainted by voter fraud

That’s because the comeback remains fragile. The New Zealand Department of Conservation classifies the karure as Threatened-Nationally Critical, and its existing habitat is nearly full. Conservationists say another population needs to be established on a third island if its numbers are to keep increasing.

The annual bird competition is intended to raise awareness of New Zealand’s native wildlife and the threats facing some of its most endangered species. But over the years, Bird of the Year has also become known for its fiercely competitive campaigns, tongue-in-cheek rivalries and occasional controversy.

In 2020, organizers detected more than 1,500 fraudulent votes cast using fake email addresses from the same IP address, briefly pushing the little spotted kiwi to the top of the leaderboard. And in 2021, the contest was won by a creature that wasn’t even a bird: New Zealand’s long-tailed bat .

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A falcon with no qualms about eating its opponents wins New Zealand’s annual bird election

This year’s competition leaned into the election theme, dividing contenders into parties including Shy Birds, Floor Birds, Night Birds and High Birds, and serving up plenty of “ beaking news.”

“The jokes are funny and this year’s meme game certainly didn’t disappoint, but underneath it all there is a serious message,” Rebecca Hatch, Forest & Bird’s group manager for growing support, said in a statement.

Forest & Bird says 80% of New Zealand’s native birds are in some trouble or serious trouble, including eight of this year’s top 10 finishers.

体型娇小、害羞且全身黑色的新西兰黑知更鸟（karure）被评为该国 2026 年度鸟类。

这种极度濒危的鸟类仅分布于偏远的查塔姆群岛，位于新西兰大陆以东约 800 公里（500 英里）处。卡鲁雷鸟以超过 25,000 票的成绩荣登榜首，击败了此前的冠军——大型不会飞的鹦鹉鸮鹦鹉和新西兰隼（又称卡雷雷亚隼），分别位列第二和第三。

据举办此次比赛的环保组织“森林与鸟类保护协会”称，今年有超过 105,000 人参与投票——约占新西兰人口的 1/50——创下了该比赛历史上的最高投票数。

此次投票人数创下历史新高，超过2025年的7.5万人，与20年前首届比赛不足900人的投票人数相比，更是实现了巨大飞跃。今年，88%的选票来自新西兰境内，创下新西兰选民投票率的历史新高。

但卡鲁尔哥特式的外表下，却隐藏着一个非凡的生存故事。

到1980年，该物种仅剩五只。其中只有一只雌性能够生育，被称为“老蓝”。据森林与鸟类保护协会称，自然保护主义者以“老蓝”和一只雄性“老黄”为创始配对，开始了一项密集的繁殖计划。

如今，大约有 350 只成年黑知更鸟生活在两个没有害虫的自然保护区岛屿上，这一恢复使新西兰的自然保护工作在国际上声名鹊起。

“谢谢你，奥特亚罗瓦！”查塔姆群岛景观修复信托基金在Facebook上写道。该信托基金曾为卡鲁雷（karure）的保护奔走呼吁，并在选举结果公布后写道。卡鲁雷是毛利语中新西兰的名称。该组织表示，为了确保卡鲁雷人口持续增长，仍有许多工作要做。

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一只肥胖、不会飞的鹦鹉，因一场充斥着选民欺诈的竞选活动而被命名为“年度鸟类”。

这是因为这种鸟类的种群恢复仍然十分脆弱。新西兰环境保护部将卡鲁雷鸟列为国家级极危物种，其现有栖息地几乎已饱和。环保人士表示，如果卡鲁雷鸟的数量要继续增长，就需要在第三个岛屿上建立新的种群。

一年一度的鸟类评选旨在提高人们对新西兰本土野生动物及其一些濒危物种所面临威胁的认识。但多年来，“年度鸟类”评选也因其激烈的竞争、略带戏谑的较量以及偶尔出现的争议而闻名。

2020年，组织者检测到超过1500张使用同一IP地址的虚假电子邮件地址投出的欺诈性选票，这使得小斑点奇异鸟一度登上排行榜榜首。而到了2021年，赢得比赛的却是一种并非鸟类的生物：新西兰的长尾蝙蝠。

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一只毫不犹豫吞食对手的猎鹰赢得了新西兰年度鸟类选举。

今年的比赛以选举为主题，将参赛者分为害羞的鸟、地板鸟、夜鸟和高飞鸟等派别，并提供了大量的“鸟鸣新闻”。

“这些笑话很有趣，今年的表情包游戏也确实没有让人失望，但在这一切背后却蕴含着严肃的信息，”森林与鸟类保护协会负责拓展支持的小组经理丽贝卡·哈奇在一份声明中表示。

新西兰森林与鸟类保护协会表示，80%的新西兰本土鸟类正面临某种程度的困境或严重的困境，其中包括今年排名前十的鸟类中的八种。