This was taken on the Milford Track several years ago. This fellow is locally called a Bush Robin. Although it looks similar to the rare Black Robin in my NZ bird book, I suspect it is the South Island variety of the NZ Robin. Any confirmation would be nice, but without seeing the breast it may be difficult. I'm posting it because of the interesting behavior: these guys seem to have learned to come out of the forest onto the trail when a hiker goes by, hoping to find bugs that the passing boots have kicked up. This one decided to perch on my boot -- someone speculated that he might have thought the laces were worms??
Yes, it's an NZ Robin. They are well known for their confiding nature, and researchers take advantage of this when they need to catch birds by luring them in with mealworms. On the Milford Track there would be dozens of hikers every day so any canny robin would be onto the freebies kicked up. Very cool!