In human psychometric testing, individuals' scores in tests of diverse cognitive processes are positively correlated, with a ‘general intelligence’ factor (g) typically accounting for at least 40% of total variance. Individual differences in cognitive ability have been extensively studied in humans, yet they have received far less attention in nonhuman animals. In particular, the development of a test battery suitable for quantifying individual cognitive performance in birds remains in its infancy. Additionally, implementing this approach in the wild, where the ecological significance of cognition can also be explored, presents considerable logistical challenges for most species. We developed a cognitive test battery for wild New Zealand North Island robins. Our battery comprised six tasks based on established measures of avian cognitive performance: a motor task, colour and shape discrimination, reversal learning, spatial memory and inhibitory control. Robins varied greatly in their ability to solve these tasks and we found weakly positive, nonsignificant correlations between most tasks. A principal components analysis of task performances yielded two factors with eigenvalues >1. The first component extracted explained over 34% of the variance in cognitive performance and all six tasks loaded positively on this first component. We show, using randomization tests, that these results are robust. Our results thus suggest that a general cognitive factor, analogous to human g, underpins cognitive performance in wild North Island robins tested in their natural habitat. •We developed a cognitive test battery for wild New Zealand robins, Petroica longipes.•Robins varied greatly in their cognitive performance in the six test battery tasks.•A general cognitive factor, analogous to human g, underpinned task performance.•This is the first evidence that a g factor may exist in a food-caching species.