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

The East Coast Odyssey

Recently I had the pleasure to sail for half day on a beautiful sailing boat called the Yukon from Eden. The Yukon is calling for people passionate about seabirds, sailing and the impacts of plastic in our oceans. The Yukon (originally known as Elly) was built in 1930 in Fredrikshavn north of Jutland. She was a Danish fishing trawler until 1974 where she was renamed Yukon and became a pleasure sailing boat. Current owners are David and Ea Nash and she is based in Tasmania.

We saw loads of Australian Gannets and Common Dolphins who were frantically feeding on a school of fish, they were joined by New Zealand Fur Seals, Shy Albatross, Yellow -nosed Albatross, Diving Petrels, Brown Skua and a Wedge tailed-shearwater. And of course we trawled for plastic which we snagged very little of, however it depends on the currents and wind. We did manage to catch lots of jellies, phytoplankton and zooplankton which is attracting a lot of interest from our marine species.

The Yukon is part of the East Coast Odyssey’s whose mission, under the supervision of Monash University’s Jennifer Lavers is to collect data on the millions of multi-coloured plastic remnants killing marine wildlife off Australia’s spectacular east coast. The impacts are unknown and this is the first time this type of work has been undertaken. 

The East Coast Odyssey is working in partnership with the Two Hands Project, who are running lands-based community events throughout the expedition. Two Hands embodies the spirit of the huge national/international clean up days but asks what you can do with your two hands, in 30 minutes, at a location near you. Two Hands takes it back to grass roots, looking at what you can do to care for where you live.

Links to Two Hands Project www.twohandsproject.org

And East Coast Odyssey http://eastcoastodyssey.wildiaries.com/

Penny 

Photo courtesy of the East Coast Odyssey

Photo courtesy of the East Coast Odyssey

Photo courtesy of the East Coast Odyssey

Photo courtesy of the East Coast Odyssey

Photo courtesy of the East Coast Odyssey

PEARL

PEARL - Pardon the ‘pun’ but this lucky girl is from Oyster Bay in Sydney.

Pearl - the pelican rescued from Oyster Bay in Sydney.

 

Thanks to Renee, a resident with a waterfront property who spotted ‘Pearl’ in trouble and made the phone call.  So Australian Seabird Rescue team member Leonie and I (Betty) headed up the mountain at 6:30pm. There she was in the mangroves making it very hard to get her without heading for deeper water which of course is what her instinct told her to do! It was now 7:30pm and luck was really on her side as there was a couple out fishing in their boat and we called them for help.

A great big thank you to ‘Gas’ and his friend from Como who helped us pick her up and didn’t complain about the mud in his boat! He did comment though that he was lucky he went out with one bird and ended up with three, ha ha!

I hope he caught his fish when we left! So in a couple of days she will be released and be able to wash the mud off herself. Thanks again Renee for ringing - ‘Gas’ for helping us and Leonie for missing her dinner!

Footnote: Great news! Word from Lindsay of S.O.S.S.A, the rare Westland Petrel that was picked up on Christmas Day and cared for my Lindsay then transported to Taronga Zoo Hospital by out Co-Ordinator Kirsten, is due to be released in the coming week - so just over three weeks in the expert care of the hospital she will be on her merry way.

The Hospital staff is of the opinion she is about 8yrs old and minor feather damage would be from going in and out of a burrow tending to her young. A great result from the effort of rescue teams working together.

Betty

LUCKY CHRISTMAS DAY

It certainly turned out that way for this rare beauty. A Westland Petrel, she was found on a beach at Wollongong and picked up by team member, Jess.

Off to our mate Lindsay of S.O.S.S.A for correct identification-she was very rare but also very underweight.   So Lindsay took over her care and thanks to his dedication (and 2am feeds!) she is now in the hands of Taronga Zoo Hospital. Lindsay got her strong enough and a check by Vet Mike Cannon, was conducted before the long trip was made to the Zoo.

Discovered in the late 1940’s there are only 3300 known pairs in the world. Westland Petrels are from the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand and spend their time travelling between there and South America. What was she doing here?   Who knows, maybe she was following Santa’s Sleigh!

Last word from the hospital is that she is doing really well, so once again, a big thank you to Lindsay for his dedication and knowledge. Lindsay also banded her, making her only the second Westland Petrel ever banded in Australia. 

Thanks also to Vet Amy at the Zoo Hospital who is also looking after a hawksbill turtle, transported there by S.O.S.S.A. The turtle was injured but with TLC will be released.

Betty

A Westland Petrel found a long way from home on a Wollongong beach

Over 250 oiled birds are now being cared for at the Mount Manganui Wildlife Response Centre

The Mount Manganui Wildlife Response Centre now has 253 birds in care including petrels, shags, penguins and shearwaters plus 3 seals. Approximately 1300 birds have not survived. When the birds are brought into the centre they are assessed by vets and ornithologists to single out those which are physically strong enough to survive. The oil is too thick to remove by simply scrubbing. They are first bathed in warm canola oil which breaks down the fuel oil, then washed in warm detergent. The birds take about 5 days to preen the detergent from their bodies but they will have to be held in the wildlife centre for several months until their natural habitats have been cleaned of the oil.
A group of Hawke's Bay residents have knitted tiny woolly penguin pyjamas! These will be put on oil smeared Little Blue penguins to prevent them preening before their feathers have been washed free of the oil.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/image.cfm

Back on the Rena, 88 containers have been lost overboard with 30 of these unaccounted for. Many of the remaining containers are in a precarious position and more are expected to be lost. Heavy seas have forced salvation efforts to cease and increased fear of the ship breaking apart.

Katie Cox captured exclusive close-up images 

of the grounded Rena off the coast of Tauranga.