Sydney Fish Markets

A call from Australian Seabird Rescue team member Silke, North Sydney came to me regarding a pelican at the Sydney Fish Markets with about 8cm of his top beak missing. On seeing the photo sent to me it was obvious this bird was going to be in a lot of trouble in a short space of time.  Being an hour and a half from

Wollongong it was difficult to co-ordinate.

Co ordinator Kirsten and team member Nikki attended on the Monday but were unsuccessful with the bird not wanting to leave the safety of the harbour.

So Kirsten and I went up on the following Thursday and it broke my heart to see this poor bird about 8 months old trying to retrieve scraps thrown to him from the café public having to put his head on the side under the water to scoop up the scraps. There was no way I was going home without him.

So off we went down on the oyster laden rocks to entice him with our yummy flathead. He was hungry poor thing so he was in my arms within 5 minutes.

Unfortunately with nothing that could be done for him he was taken to the vets and euthanized.

He was in a poor condition being unable to preen, no feathers under his wing making him not waterproof. He would have died a slow horrible death from hypothermia and possible starvation from incorrect diet.

Easily avoided of course if people would only stop feeding these birds and making them people friendly perhaps they may return to the wild and this sort of cruel injury would not occur. It was confirmed by the veterinarian that the injury was caused by a KNIFE.

A very sad outcome for this very handsome very young bird

Betty

Unbelievable!

Merimbula – A very pretty spot on the far south coast of NSW – but there is a monster in residence!

This monster was seen tossing juvenile silver gulls out of his boat in front of shocked children.

Two men and a young boy tossed the baby birds, their nests and some eggs into the lake. Some local kids and adults jumped in to save as many as they could – 14 birds were taken into care.

National Parks and the RSPCA were notified and now have the monsters details. One truly hopes he is taken to court and charged under the Government Wildlife Act.

Many thanks to Kristine of Wildlife Rescue and the Local WIRES volunteer for raising these birds and Australian Seabird Rescue team member Penny for telephone support. All birds have now been released – thank you to all involved.

A simple phone call would have solved this problem in an hour instead of 2 months care and expense. One wonders about the future of the boy involved in this act of cruelty.

Betty

PETITE PETREL

Petite petrel found on the NSW South Coast

This fledgling white face storm petrel is the only storm petrel with a white forehead, face and under parts. At only 15cm in length and weighing 40gm this little bird was amazing. They are mostly pelagic.

He was found on a south coast beach two and a half hours south of Wollongong and thanks to the rescuers and Australian Seabird Rescue team member Lisa I only had to travel one hour south to collect him.

They breed also on Kermadec, New Zealand and New Zealand sub Antarctic islands. North and south Atlantic also. Part of the Australian population winters in the north Indian Ocean and Arabian seas.

With a tiny 38cm wing span one wonders how they survive out there over that vast ocean.

A day and a half rest and “unusual” diet (they feed on krill) with advice from Lindsay at Southern Ocean Seabird Study Ass. We took him to Port Kembla at 8 p.m. to see if he was strong enough to continue his journey.

Without too much hesitation he was off and half hour observation he was last sighted heading in the right direction to the north.

Another good result!

Thank you Lindsay (SOSSA), Lisa (ASR) and Wildlife Rescue.

Betty

Friday 11pm - Pied Oystercatcher

This very handsome, very young Pied Oystercatcher found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Considered vulnerable it was important to do whatever for him.

Young Pied Oystercatcher found in a shipping container at Port Botany

He was taken to the Exotic Animal Hospital in Sydney by a worker at the Port Botany (Botany Bay) shipping container terminal after being found in one of the containers. The Animal Hospital rang me and asked if I could take the bird but they had to come after duties hence the 11pm arrival time in Wollongong.

Tucked in safe for the night I took him early next morning to my mates Lindsay and Janice of SOSSA (Southern Ocean Seabird Study Ass) for advice on the best care for him.

Lindsay, with his over 40 years experience explained the poor thing had been “kidnapped”. Apparently the parents would have warned him of on incoming danger and to hide and they would come back for him, so he’s run into the container. Not yet fledged it was decided to take him back to Port Botany and let the parents find him.

BUT a dilemma!!!! The terminal doesn’t work weekends and despite a lot of phone calls we couldn’t get access to where he came from.  It was decided he had to go to Taronga Zoo Hospital to be cared for until fledged as after two and a half days the parents would have stopped looking for him. These birds are very territorial and the local birds would probably kill him so release in Wollongong was out of the question.

After a weekend in care dining on mussels, fish, octopus and my toes he was off to the Zoo in Sydney on Monday with a big thank you to Lindsay for transporting him as I was unable to go and no A.S.R. Volunteer was available.

With all the best facilities at the zoo he will be taught to forage for food himself and released where he came from in about 3 weeks when he can fly.

Thank you S.O.S.S.A., Taronga Zoo Hospital and Homebush Exotic Animal Hospital.

Betty

ENDANGERED

This very handsome young Westland Petrel was found lying on the sand of a Wollongong Beach by a passer-by who fortunately rang Seabird Rescue.  These birds only breed in the Paparoa Ranges on the top of bluffs which are densely forested on the South Island of New Zealand mostly migrate to Chile before returning.

Western Petrel found on Wollongong Beach

So immediately off to our friends Janice & Lindsay of SOSSA (Southern Oceans Seabird Study Assoc.) to be assessed at just over half her weight should be she was hydrated with critical care fluid straight away and due to the late hour, Lindsay kept her to be fed during the night (Thank you Lindsay)

Into rehab the next day she appeared to be doing okay, but on day 5 despite gaining weight she started to look not so happy.

Lindsay consulted with Taronga Zoo Hospital and it was decided she would fair better up there with best facilities where she could swim etc.

Not being able to get a Seabird Rescue volunteer to take her to Sydney / Mosman, (almost two hours away) it fell back on Janice & Lindsay to transport her to the Zoo, for which a great big thank you goes to them as I couldn’t go with other birds in care needing 3 hourly attention.

But the lesson here is the IMPORTANCE of notifying someone of any seabirds found dead or alive.  It really is imperative to identify them and if alive to go to the best possible care.

Thank you again, Janice & Lindsay of SOSSA and Taronga Zoo Hospital for taking over her care and hopefully release in a couple of weeks.

Betty 

KIWI SURPRISE

A call came in to Australian Seabird Rescue from a Sussex Inlet resident advising of a pelican with line around its leg. Sussex Inlet is approximately 2 hours south of Wollongong and 1 hour south of Nowra. 

So onto the phone to team member Lisa who lives on the coast near Nowra. She was on holiday in Queensland waiting for a flight home as the state was experiencing flash flooding but said she’d go as soon as she got home.  A big thank you Lisa as no one else was available.

So with her visiting friend from New Zealand off they went but couldn’t find the bird in the massive waterways of the inlet so headed home. But just as she turned on the main highway the fellow rang and said the bird had showed up-so a quick u turn back they went and there he was waiting for them.

The Kiwi caught the bird!!!!!!

After removing the line and checking the bird over and I’m sure some photos to take home he was happily released.

I told her if ever she moved “across the ditch” we would love to have her join us!

Thank you girls well done

Betty

SPARKIE

An early morning call to Australian Seabird Rescue from a fisherman, Gordon came in about a pelican trapped for a couple of days in the cold water channel at the district power station.

My rescue buddy Oliver was unavailable so I asked if Gordon call help me and off I went with ropes and anything else I could think of. Of course the power station is under heavy security with locked gates everywhere so with a band of workers headed by foreman Warren we followed her down. This channel is quite long very deep and about a 4ft drop down straight sides to the water with a grate at the inlet end and a filter at the other end. The poor thing was snookered- we tried everything.

Warren was going to cut a hole in the security fence but I called the Fire Brigade to see if they could help and with a great big thank you to the men we all put our heads together to work out the best plan of action.

She’d turned and swam back to the inlet-now being totally exhausted she could hardly hold her head up.  It was commented there were big fish in there but generally people don’t understand pelicans can’t dive deeper than the length of their neck so she was also starving.

With all the attention she became spooked and squeezed herself through the grate and into the open lake but so unwell she just started drifting. Onto the phone to team member John to bring his hovercraft over she is now safely in care.

This poor bird would have been lucky to weigh 2kilo - she’d been in there a lot longer than 2 days, but a couple more days in care and big feeds of fish she will be back out in the wild.

A big thank you to fisho Gordon, power station, Warren the fire station officer Rod and hovercraft John for their invaluable help.

She is one very lucky bird that so many people cared.

Betty

Sparkie the Pelican