Locals take bird under their wing
Prawn-scoffing petrel eats its way to health before returning to wild
Agroup of residents has helped save the life of a young southern ocean bird stranded on Rangiputa beach, in the Far North last week. The juvenile southern giant petrel was first sighted at the beach on August 30, where it appeared lethargic and unwell.
The large seabird – named Rangi of Rangiputa – is also known as the Antarctic giant petrel, giant fulmar, stinker and is often mistaken for a mollymawk or albatross.
It also closely resembles its northern counterpart, the northern giant petrel, but can be distinguished by its greenish bill-tip as opposed to the northern species’ red bill-tip.
Rangiputa resident Simon Macnicol discovered the bird and alerted people on Facebook to be vigilant if walking dogs at the beach.
Rangiputa rural fire officer Jo Armstrong responded to the post and offered to transport the bird to the Whanga¯rei Bird Recovery Centre.
She said it was an experience she’ll never forget.
“It was such an incredible, majestic bird and I remember thinking, wow big guy, you’ve probably seen icebergs and the Antarctic, all of which are on my bucket list.
“I wasn’t sure what to do with him, so I phoned bird expert Michele Mackenzie, who talked me through how to care for him and how to keep him alive.
“She told me to feed him thin strips of fish in case there was any plastic obstruction and thankfully, he started to eat and eventually pooed.
“I also managed to get someone to lend me a dog crate, which I kept him in overnight, and I drove him to Whanga¯rei the next day.”
Bird Recovery Centre founders Robert and Robin Webb were waiting for Rangi when he arrived.
The couple have been taking care of sick and injured birds for more than 35 years and receive all kinds of winged creatures all year round.
Webb said while it wasn’t unusual to see a southern giant petrel off the coast of New Zealand, it was difficult to know where they had come from.
He said it was likely Rangi had been caught up in one of the recent storms and had bruised his wings when he was washed up on shore.
“Some birds are banded, which Rangi was, and it turned out he came from Antarctica,” Webb said.
“Because of the decline in bird species around the world, international teams of scientists are banding birds in order to understand bird behaviour better.
“We have just found out Rangi was banded on March 6 this year and was at that point too young to fly.
“He was banded in Antarctica by Polar Oceans Research Group and is probably only a few months old which is amazing.”
Webb reported Rangi was doing well and scoffing down $22 worth of ground-up prawns and fresh cod fillets a day.
He said it was imperative for birds once handled by humans to rebuild their oil coating if they’re to survive once released back into the wild.
“Seabirds have oil on their feathers which help keep them insulated and warm,” Webb said.
“It’s important that people don’t pick up seabirds because the oils in their hands actually destroy the waterproof, which means once the bird returns to the ocean, they are susceptible to hypothermia and can die.
“In this case, it was a great team effort from everyone involved and because they knew how to handle him, Rangi is making an excellent recovery.”
Department of Conservation Kaitaia operations manager Meirene Hard Birch agreed often the best thing to do was to leave the animal in its environment until a professional could respond.
“If someone was to discover another bird like this or any other sick or injured animal, the wildlife that grace our shores be it bird, turtle or seal, are often seeking refuge and respite generally from being in stormy weather and seas,” Birch said.
“At times they are under duress due to injury and many instances suffering from human hand and just need rest free from harassment.
“Leaving them in nature for many is a hard thing to do, but is often the kindest act.
“People can contact 0800DOCHOT to inform where, when and what and we appreciate photos, as in an alert level 3 and 4 environment we have limited movement.”
Webb said he planned to take Rangi out to sea near the Hen and Chicken Islands, which lie 40km south-east of Whanga¯rei once alert level 2 kicked in.
He said that would be far enough away not to be disturbed by humans, and would give him the best chance of survival.