Sick seabirds cared for in Manawatū

Rough seas and storms around New Zealand are playing havoc with wildlife as strong winds blow even large seabirds from the south inland as far as central North Island.

Massey University’s Wildbase Hospital saw at least seven large seabirds, including a Salvin’s albatross and a northern giant petrel, found sick on beaches or inland across the ManawatūWhanganui region this winter.

Usually, the hospital treats one or two large ocean birds in the same period. It treated fairy prions, giant petrels, black petrels, grey petrels, a whitecapped albatross, a black-capped albatross and an albatross this winter. Massey’s senior practising veterinarian, Dr Megan Jolly, said it appeared recent storms blew the birds from the south to the central north island.

‘‘We don’t see giant petrels here so often. They are generally found in the south island. Due to big southerly winds in winter, they end up in the north.

‘‘The birds we treated this winter seemed to have washed up over the beach.’’ Wildbase Hospital’s Dr Matthew Tommasini said the hospital was busier than usual this winter. ‘‘We had some of the biggest storms this year, thanks to climate change.

‘‘Another factor that drives more seabirds to the centre is rising awareness among the public about ocean birds.’’

A northern giant petrel rescued from Woodville was recently brought to the hospital underweight and with low blood count.

‘‘It seems the bird was blown up the coast and ended up inland.

‘‘We ran a diagnosis and figured out the bird had massive intestinal parasites. We have been giving it regular treatment, fluids and food.’’

The team made sure the bird recovered well and did not get habituated to human presence, before it was rehabilitated at the coast off Napier. ‘‘One of the challenges in treating wild seabirds is they can get habituated to the people if they get food easily. We have to treat them as soon as possible as we prefer they get food for themselves and don’t get too aggressive with human presence around,’’ Tommasini said.

Jolly said seabirds were more challenging to handle due to their size. ‘‘They need an entire room to themselves. Also, we have to be very careful while treating wounds and removing dead skin as it should be done in a way that we allocate feathers back in pattern so that water proofing of feathers remains in place.

‘‘If water gets into their skin, they can get hypothermia and drown in water.’’