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The Black Robin - A Chatham Island Story
The Black Robin - A Chatham Island Story
Television (Full Length) – 1989 Nature Documentary
Wild South
TVNZ’s Natural History Film Unit was founded in...
Seven Black Robins
One of the original documentaries on which this film is...
The Unnatural History of the Kākāpō
Another dramatic conservation story
Moa's Ark : To the Lifeboats
David Bellamy pays tribute to Don Merton
The Robin's Return
The second Wild South black robin documentary
Moriori
A doco on the Indigenous people of the Chathams
Kea - Mountain Parrot
Rod Morris also directed this award-winning bird film
The Black Stilt
Another dramatic rare bird story from Rod Morris
Ghosts of Gondwana
More award-winning natural history from Rod Morris
Weekly Review No. 437 - Ornithology ... Notornis Expedition
Film about the rediscovery of the takahē
Kāpiti Hono Tātati Hono - My Island, My Home
Film about people living on bird sanctuary Kapiti Island
Looking at New Zealand - The Fight to Save the Saddleback
Skills used in the robin's rescue were pioneered here
Song of Protest
Also directed by Rod Morris
In the mid 1970s the Chatham Island black robin was the world's rarest bird. With only two females left, the conservation ante was extreme. Enter saviour Don Merton and his Wildlife Service team. Their pioneering efforts ranged from abseiling the birds (including the 'Eve' of her species, 'Old Blue') down cliff faces, to left-field libido spurs. This 1988 Listener Film and TV award-winner united two earlier Wild South documentaries, and updated the robin’s rescue story to 1987. It originally screened on Christmas Day 1987, before being modified for this 1989 edition.
If the rarest bird in the world can be rescued, then — given human determination and effort — no species need become extinct.– Don Merton
Availability
Available to purchase on DVD from Natural History New Zealand