Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre founder Robert Webb and staff have been caring for 20 grey-faced petrels after last weekend's weather bomb. Photo / Sarah Curtis
The recent bad weather has taken a toll on Northland’s birdlife, with many struggling to keep their feathers waterproof in the constant rain.
Whangārei’s Native Bird Recovery Centre founder, Robert Webb, said petrels were particularly renowned for coming ashore to seek shelter from stormy seas.
Since heavy rain hit last weekend, the centre has had a run on grey-faced petrels, taking in about 20 that were found separately at various people’s houses, mainly in Ruakākā.
Grey-faced petrels, also known as oi or the northern muttonbird, are a mid-sized petrel species. Other petrels, such as storm petrels, are tiny by comparison, while giant petrels are about the size of a small albatross.
Petrels were often drawn to shore by city lights, Webb said.
“They get caught in the storms, they’ll come into the shore, and then they’ll fly inland. Some of them have been known to fly as far as Kauri and Te Kamo – all around the place.
“They normally fly until they see some bright lights and then they’ll go and land beside them – it’s quite common for them to do that. They used to come in when the oil refinery was working, because of the flare.”
Sadly, nine of the recently rescued birds had since died, but the others were fighting fit and would soon be released.
“It’s not a bad recovery rate, really, given the sodden state many were in when rescued,” Webb said.
“They’re a very soft bird, so they lose their waterproofing quite quickly, and then they can’t swim or survive on the ocean, because they normally live on the ocean.”
He said anyone who had visited the Poor Knights Islands would no doubt be familiar with the birds, which can gather in their hundreds on the surface of the ocean there.
“They look quite impressive, especially when they’re feeding and diving.”
The other issue for storm-embattled birds was being “sandblasted” in high winds when their feathers were already saturated, he said.
“We had a little penguin come in yesterday – the sand was just absolutely caked on him.”
It usually took only a couple of days at the centre for drenched birds to dry out and regain their waterproofing before they were ready to go back out to sea, Webb said.
However, some birds had already become too cold before they arrived and later died of pneumonia.
The recovered birds would be released at Onerahi, which Webb said was an ideal location.
“It’s calmer water there, and they can see the ocean – they can go straight down to the harbour to it.
“If we took them out to the coast, the weather conditions would probably still be too rough, and they’d have to contend with big waves, which would just push them backwards again.”
During the few days it took them to recover, the birds didn’t need to be fed. Webb said it was better not to feed them when their stress levels were high, as there was a risk they might choke.
To help reduce stress, the birds had been allowed to explore the centre.
“Last night we had most of them out on the floor, walking all around – up and down the passage, they went into offices, they were running around as if they owned the bloody place.”
They were kept together in large cages at the centre, where they could snuggle beside and on top of each other.
While the birds have powerful beaks and can deliver a painful bite, Webb said they had so little contact with humans in the wild that they did not instinctively behave aggressively.
Other birds brought to the centre over the past few days included tūī and kingfishers.
Longer-term residents include two kiwi chicks hatched at the centre before Christmas, several tūī chicks brought in during earlier hot weather, and a harrier hawk soon to be released back to its home near Dargaville.
According to New Zealand Birds Online (NZBO), grey‑faced petrels breed mainly around northern New Zealand, on offshore islands and a few mainland headlands.
More than 100 colonies exist, mostly small, with the largest on island groups including the Three Kings, Hen and Chickens, Mokohinau, Mercury, Alderman, Cuvier, Moutohora, White and East Islands.
They breed from March to January, raising a single chick which fledges between November and January at about 118 days old.
Some iwi harvest grey-faced petrel chicks between mid-November and mid-December under customary rights.
Adults forage widely during breeding, travelling thousands of kilometres across the Tasman Sea and surrounding waters. The global population is estimated at 200,000–300,000 breeding pairs.
Ongoing threats include long-line fishing bycatch and habitat loss. Conservation measures include predator eradication and colony protection.
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, covering a wide range of issues. She has 20 years’ experience in journalism, mostly as a court reporter in Gisborne and on the East Coast.