The story of Old Blue and Old Yellow, two Chatham Island black robins that went on to save their species, is one of New Zealand’s best known conservation stories.
Once abundant on Rēkohu/Chatham Islands before European arrival, the black robin population crashed when rats invaded the archipelago. In the early 1900s, 35 black robins remained on a small island (Tapuaenuku/Little Mangere), but by 1976, only seven birds had survived.
