New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2026 is a tiny black robin

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.