The number of prions that perished on the west coast of the North Island in last week's stormy weather could be in the tens of thousands.
Though the species was not endangered, the birds might have "taken quite a good hit", said Manawatu/Wanganui Bird Rescue co-ordinator Dawne Morton.
She was kept busy with the birds from Tuesday to Friday last week. They were picked up dead and alive along the length of the coast, from Wellington to North Cape.
More than 600 birds were being nursed back to health at Massey University, others by the Conservation Department in New Plymouth and Wellington Zoo.
At Massey the birds were put in warm water ponds, fed and re-waterproofed. Badly hurt birds were euthanised.
The prions' small size put them at particular risk.
"These guys lose 20g and they've had it," Ms Morton said.
Recovered birds would be released from a boat, because any freed on the beach were likely to be killed and eaten by the much larger black-backed gulls.
Ms Morton's best guess about last week's storm was that the birds were unable to fish because the storm lasted so long. They became weak from lack of food and were blown onshore. Some landed in the sea and were tumbled about and washed on to beaches. Many of those lost could have been young and inexperienced hunters.
Most of the birds were the broadbilled prion species, but there were also fairy prions, Salvin's prions and Antarctic prions.
Storms had been known to land seabirds in strange places - Lake Taupo, the top of the Parapara stretch of SH4, albatrosses at Halcombe - but never in such numbers.
"We've never had anything like this before," Ms Morton said.
Birds feared killed in tens of thousands
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