Feeding ruffles feathers
Well-meaning bird lover lures rare gulls out of safety zone
Awell-meaning Hastings takeaways operator has unwittingly lured a rare breed of feathered friends well out of their safety zone. Each morning, Talwinder Singh Kular has been putting out a scoop of chips for his own flock of seagulls.
He said the gulls took over the feeding ground after he started putting food out for sparrows.
But his neighbours, including Kris Bristow, are not so impressed. “They park on top of the buildings waiting,” the frustrated business owner said.
“If you get that crap on your roof, acid eats through eventually, which is why the council spent a lot of money trying to kill all the pigeons.”
But these are not your bogstandard seagulls. They are tara¯ puka, endemic to New Zealand and the world’s most threatened gull species.
And their movements around Hawke’s Bay have been noticed for some of their unusual choices.
They were in the news recently after five were found dead at Rotorua’s Sulphur Bay during a routine Department of Conservation check in November. Officials believed the gulls
were shot.
They are more commonly found in the South Island, breeding inland on shingle riverbeds. But last year, a colony was found breeding in Hawke’s Bay at the Tukituki River mouth, exposing them to humans, predators and surf.
Soon after fledging early last year, some of the birds began visiting the building across the road from Singh’s store on Heretaunga St East.
“I like to do something for the birds,” he said. “Before I was just feeding the little birds, but now seagulls are coming in.” The gulls didn’t return to the Tukituki River mouth to breed, instead trying out several different sites in succession. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council terrestrial ecologist Keiko Hashiba said Singh should stop feeding the gulls. “They are evolved to be in this [river] environment. They are very capable of feeding themselves. It’s not a good idea to feed them,” she said. Hastings bird whisperer Singh still feeds his sparrows, but now he does it in the yard at the back of his takeaway shop.
Away from the endangered but greedy, beady-eyed black-billed gulls.