Old Blue: mother of the black robins

Forest and Bird, Volume 16, Issue 1, 1 February 1985, Page 28

Old Blue: mother of the black robins

. President

Alan Edmonds,

Old Blue is probably dead, but the Chatham Island black robin has been pulled back from certain extinction by the breeding efforts of this remarkable bird. No sign of her could be found last spring in the forests of South East Island in the Chathams. She was last seen in December 1983 at Whalers Bay near the Coast, where she liked to bask in the sun within sound of the rare shore plover. First banded as an adult on Little Mangere Island in March 1972, she was probably born in December 1970. Old Blue was shifted to Mangere Island in 1976 along with four of the other surviving six black robins, five of which were males. Chatham Island black robins had become the world’s most endangered bird. Mangere Island had been bought by the Crown in the 1960’s with financial help from our Society; that help continued as the forest on the island was replanted to provide habitat for robins. With numbers so low and breeding success threatened, the Wildlife Service Black robin fed by tit foster parent.

began in 1980 the programme of cross-’ fostering black robin eggs in the nests of Chatham Island warblers. Don Merton, Wildlife Office, is truly the godfather to these birds; his skill, care, patience, daring and love throughout the transfers and crossfosterings brought success where extinction seemed a certainty. Watching his careful transfers of eggs and chicks between the nests of black robins and Chatham Island tits last December brought home to me how much we owe to the dedicated people working for the Wildlife Service. Although Old Blue may be dead, she lives on in her offspring. She was the mother of six surviving offspring and grandmother to eleven; in fact all surviving black robins are her progeny except for her husband, Old Yellow, and Old Green. Old Blue produced the core of birds which took part in the crossfostering programme, resulting in the present rash of youngsters. In December 1984 there were 19 chicks and 19 adults. The whole programme breaks new ground by world standards, is a direct result of the skill and resourcefulness of Wildlife Officers, and might not have happened without Old Blue and her stickability. You don’t have to be a Wildlife Officer to help our endangered species. See page 5 of this issue for what you can do.