Hi there
Our Birds New Zealand beach Patrol of Muriwai Beach on Saturday 08 June was a busy one. We had very difficult conditions for the beach patrol, a strong 50kmph westerly wind, some heavy showers of rain, along with a white water sea of waves & foam.
We found a varied selection of birds as follows:-
1 Grey Headed Albatross (Initially thought to be a Buller's Albatross)
1 juvenile Northern Giant Petrel
1 Antarctic Fulmar
2 Buller’s Shearwaters
1 Little Shearwater (The Auckland Museum will check to see if they can determine the subspecies)
1 Antarctic Prion
1 Slender Billed Prion
1 Blackbird
Four birds (the Albatross, Giant Petrel, Fulmar & Little Shearwater) will be taken to the Auckland Museum as specimens. Attached are a few photos courtesy of Virginia Nicol & Trina Smith . Note that the Little Shearwater was the unfortunately the victim of pollution, as its wings were entangled in fishing line & one foot was severed. The windy conditions on Saturday & the few days prior had likely caused the demise of many of these birds.
When leaving the beach we saw a small all dark petrel (possibly a dark phased Soft Plumage Petrel) struggling against the wind & flying low over the sand ! The weather improved & the wind abated by Sunday, so hopefully the wind battered birds survived. Thanks to the five beach patrollers who braved the conditions.
Cheers
Ian
Muriwai Beach Patrol Results
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- zarkov
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Re: Muriwai Beach Patrol Results
Shearwaters have a habit of following baits down, and it's possible that Shearwater was accidentally hooked by a fisher and then cut loose. I've seen the rock fishermen by the Gannet colony do this, and once rescued a Gannet that was trapped in exactly that way, rather than tangled in waste fishing line.
It's certainly the fate of a lot of seabirds, particularly shags, caught by boaties in the Hauraki Gulf.
It's certainly the fate of a lot of seabirds, particularly shags, caught by boaties in the Hauraki Gulf.
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Re: Muriwai Beach Patrol Results
Hello Zarkov
The fishing line wrapped around the bird was very light & it looked to be the type of line that you would use with float to catch surface feeding fish like Piper. There was no hook on the line & I expect that the line had just been carelessly discarded by a recreational fisherman & the bird was caught up in it.
Cheers
Ian
The fishing line wrapped around the bird was very light & it looked to be the type of line that you would use with float to catch surface feeding fish like Piper. There was no hook on the line & I expect that the line had just been carelessly discarded by a recreational fisherman & the bird was caught up in it.
Cheers
Ian