Animalia Life

Petroica traversi
SUBFAMILY
Petroicinae
TAXONOMY
Miro traversi Buller, 1872, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Chatham Islands robin, Chatham robin; French: Miro des Chatham; German: Chathamschnдpper; Spanish: Tordo de Chatham.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5.5–6 in (13–15 cm); 0.8 oz (23 g). All black with stocky build.
DISTRIBUTION
Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
HABITAT
Scrubby forest on islands.
BEHAVIOR
Tame and tolerant of human intrusion, but defends small territories while breeding.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Hops on ground or low branches, taking invertebrates, such as cockroaches and wetas, grubs, and worms.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds from October to January, with several attempts. Nests placed in tangles of low vines or in cavities in tree trunks and limbs, occasionally in old blackbird (Turdus merula) nests. Clutch is comprised of two, occasionally three, eggs. Incubated for 18 days, young fledge after 23 days and depend on parents for six more weeks.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Endangered. Declined on Chatham Islands after European settlement due to loss of habitat and introduced mammals, such as rats and cats. By 1980, there were only seven birds, with just Heteromyias albispecularis one successfully breeding pair. All birds were moved to another island, and egg-manipulation and cross-fostering of eggs and young to warblers (Gerygone albofrontata) and tomtits (Petroica macrocephala chathamensis) allowed the population to recover to about 200 birds.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
The rescue of the Chatham Island black robin from extinction attracted widespread interest in New Zealand, so much so that the death of the old breeding female (“Old Blue”), who was used to save the species, was announced in a press release from the Minister of Internal Affairs. A detailed account of the struggle to save what was then the rarest bird species in the world is told by David Butler and Don Merton (1992).

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