Visitors from the tropics

STOPOVER: A brown booby flies in to join Australasian gannets at their colony site on Nick’s Head. Pictures by Steve Sawyer

Seabirds known as brown boobies occasionally visit New Zealand waters and two such guests have temporarily joined the Australasian gannets at Nick’s Head. Ecoworks co-founder Steve Sawyer tells Mark Peters their story . . .

Visitors from the tropics have joined the Australasian gannets at Nick’s Head but unlike the headline-grabbing “unruly tourists” the guests fit right in. Two brown boobies, seabirds in the same family as the gannets, have made a home on the headland but it is unlikely they will stay.

Usually from much warmer zones than New Zealand the boobies are likely to have been blown off-course then joined the yellow-capped gannets on their flight path to the East Coast, says Ecoworks co-founder Steve Sawyer.

Vagrant brown boobies reach New Zealand waters most years, mainly around the northern North Island, but also frequently around Nelson and Golden Bay. They often enter harbours or roost alongside gannets at their colonies.

The brown booby is slightly smaller than a gannet, and similar in shape and behaviour to the gannet, says nzbirdsonline.

“This is the second time they have been recorded at Te Kuri/Nick’s Head coinciding with cyclones off Australia and Fiji,” says Steve.

“I think these two might be slightly immature. They stay for a couple of months and then they head back to tropical waters of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. It’ll be interesting to see how long they stay for.”

Brown boobies are not a threatened species, but many breeding colonies are subject to human disturbance, and rats may take chicks and unguarded eggs, says nzbirdsonline.

“They typically dive at a shallower angle than gannets. Brown boobies also chase flying fish (their major food item) while they are airborne, catching the fish either in flight or as they re-enter the water. Other fish and squid are also taken by plunge diving.”

The English name “booby” is said to be based on the Spanish colloquialism bobo which means “stupid”. The booby’s crime was its tameness. The seabird would land on sailing ships where it was easily caught and eaten. Boobies are said to be often mentioned as eaten by shipwrecked sailors.

After almost a month adrift at sea as a result of the infamous mutiny on the Bounty, William Bligh and his men suffered extreme hunger. Then, providence swooped in.

‘Sites like Nick’s Head help regenerate our ecosystem’“In the evening [of May 25, 1789] several boobies flying very near to us we had the good fortune to catch one of them,” wrote Bligh in A Voyage to the South Sea.

“This bird is as large as a duck: like the noddy it has received its name from seamen for suffering itself to be caught on the masts and yards of ships. They are the most presumptive proofs of being in the neighbourhood of land of any seafowl we are acquainted with. I directed the bird to be killed for supper, and the blood to be given to three of the people who were the most distressed for want of food. The body, with the entrails, beak, and feet, I divided into 18 shares, and with an allowance of bread, which I made a merit of granting, we made a good supper, compared with our usual fare.”

At the gannet sanctuary the two boobies are safe from intruders, and the pot, but despite their good behaviour black-backed gulls are not warming to them.

“They’re dive-bombing our visitors,” says Steve.

Arrival a unique eventThe arrival on Nick’s Head of the two brown boobies is a unique event, says Ecoworks co-founder Steve Sawyer.

“We have about 70 gannets there now. The young will fledge and fly out by about April,” says Steve.

Other species are coming in though. The sound system installed at Nick’s Head has had a good response to its recorded birdcalls. Fluttering shearwaters, sooty shearwaters (muttonbirds), fairy prion, another type of muttonbird, have turned up.

“Mainland New Zealand used to be covered in forest. Muttonbirds were plentiful and fertilised our forests with guano,” he says.

“Sites like Nick’s Head are valuable. They help regenerate our ecosystem from thousands of years ago.”

Snapper fishing is said to have improved markedly in the Nick’s Head area, says Steve.

“This is possibly due to the ecosystem nutrient repair instigated by the gannets.”

Tree replanting has improved water quality on the coast around Nick’s Head, he says.