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Synopsis

By 1976 there were only seven Chatham Islands' black robins left. It was the world's rarest bird. In a bid to save the species, the surviving birds are taken from one island to another more hospitable island in a desperate rescue mission. This is part of an incredible conservation success story led by Don Merton and a NZ Wildlife Service team. Along with Black Robin, and The Robin's Return this documentary was one of the acclaimed Wild South series of 'rare bird' documentaries, upon which the formation of TVNZ's Natural History Unit was based.

Background

A perspective by Paul Ward 16.10.2008

This is an incredible conservation success story filled with adventure and high drama.

It is one of three documentaries made by TVNZ's Natural History Unit (later NHNZ) that follows the efforts of the NZ Wildlife Service team (led by ...

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Credits (6)

 Michael Stedman
 Paul Donovan
 Peter Hayden

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Comments (5)

 Peter

Peter

Thank You For Rescuing The Black Robins For Us!

-Peter & Alex
From:Slovakia

 Irene Gardiner

Irene Gardiner

Great idea. They are all really good documentaries. But we will have to check on their availability with Natural History New Zealand. We'll look into it...

 Fiona

Fiona

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Any chance of the other two documentaries - "The Black Robin" and "The Robin's Return" being added to the site?

 louis

louis

Cool video, it's good to know that the population is about 200 black robins by now!

 Emma Harrison

Emma Harrison

Great footage - Really enjoyed watching the Seven Black Robins and how they actually managed to capture them.

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Tags

doc, chatham islands, department of conservation, nature, conservation, black robin, preservation