Egg counts for tardy mutton birds

EGG counts will start tomorrow on islands in the Furneaux Group as the Aboriginal community and bird experts look for signs the short-tailed shearwater’s annual migration back to Tasmania is happening – albeit very late.

The mutton birds which return every October are late this year and the egg count, being conducted on six islands off Tasmania’s northeast tip, should give a clearer picture of how many have arrived.

“What is concerning is this is not a one-off. The birds were five to seven days late last year and even further delayed this year,” Birdlife Tasmania’s Eric Woehler said from the islands yesterday. “For a species that is historically so punctual and highly synchronised to suddenly change its patterns is very troubling.”

Tasmania’s mutton bird colonies are more than a month late returning from their annual migration to Alaska this year.

The birds usually arrive promptly from September 21, but only small numbers have been spotted returning to burrow this year.

Dead mutton birds washing up on beaches in Alaska provided the first indication things might not be well.

And Tasmanian Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell’s trip to Babel Island — Tasmania’s largest shearwater colony — in early October revealed a low number of scratchings around burrows.

“We will go back out in December to see if they have laid eggs in the burrows, then we will have a better idea,” he said at the time.

“We are hoping the low return rate does not signal a repeat of the dire conditions of 2014.”

The breeding season in 2014 was so bad harvesting on Babel Island was called off. In that year, there were fewer than 40 chicks in the island’s 523 burrows.

There are 43 colonies where recreational harvesters can operate in Tasmania, including islands in the King Island Group, the Hunter Group, the Furneaux Group and Cape Sorell.