Only five Chatham Island black robins remained before the breeding season of 1981-82: a pair named Old Blue and Old Yellow, a second pair named Green and White, and one surviving chick from the year before, according to the Predator Free NZ Trust. The species was considered the rarest bird species on the planet at the time. To save the black robins, the small group of New Zealand wildlife officers who took care of the birds decided to try something no one had ever done before.
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