Source: Radio New Zealand
An albatross injured in last week’s lower North Island storm was released off the coast of Napier on Thursday and two others hurt in the same wild weather are on the road to recovery.
They’ve rehabilitated at Palmerston North’s Wildbase Hospital, where they’re treated to a diet of salmon and get to swim in an indoor pool.
The hospital’s manager says the increasing frequency of storms is keeping the service busier than usual.
Salmon smolt and an indoor pool
Last week, four injured and weak albatrosses were rushed to the Massey University-run hospital for sick and injured wildlife. One had a broken pelvis and had to be euthanised.
When RNZ visited, associate professor Megan Jolly, the hospital manager, was supervising a juvenile albatross found on the Taranaki coast and gliding around a 3.5 metre swimming pool.
Pātea the albatross on his way to recovery. RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
“The advantage of the pool is it’s inside, so if they’re a little bit weak, we can control the air temperature,” Jolly said. “More importantly, it doesn’t give him the option of getting off the pool – it’s got high sides.
“When they’re weak and inherently lazy, they’ll get out and sit on the side.”
The recovering birds are well looked after. When they’re not in the water, they sit in rooms, on padding and towels to protect their feet, and get fed whole salmon smolt.
“His delicate feet, they’re designed to be on the ocean. They’re not designed to be on land, they’re very easily damaged.
“Sitting here on the pool is the best place for them.”
Jolly said giving rescued wildlife a cute name wasn’t the done thing. Instead, they were referred to by where they were found, so the albatross RNZ watched was known as Pātea.
He suffered a suspected soft-tissue injury.
“He’s preening now, so he’s just cruising around on the water, fluffing his feathers up, and that’s the best thing he can do,” Jolly said. “Part of the the problem with the storm is that he gets a bit roughed up and it can disrupt those feathers.
“It’s the structure of the features and them being perfect that makes him waterproof.”
More storms cause more injuries
Usually, the hospital wouldn’t see many rescued seabirds until winter storms, but this year had been busy already, with injured albatrosses in its care after February’s wild weather.
Wildcbase Hospital manager Dr Megan Jolly. RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
“With climate change, and the increase in frequency and severity of storms, we are seeing a lot more seabirds dumped on New Zealand’s shores,” Jolly said. “These guys were all thin and a bit weak, when the storm got to them.”
She said, if anyone saw an injured seabird, the best thing to do was ring a local bird rescue group or the Department of Conservation.
Small birds could be handled with a towel, but that wasn’t a good idea for larger seabirds. Albatrosses could have wing spans of more than three metres and their beaks were razor sharp.
“There’s always a discussion in our group text of, when a big storm comes through, everyone picks when they think the seabirds will start to arrive,” Jolly said. “It’s usually about three days after a storm.
“We see that delay, because people aren’t out in the storm, when it’s happening. It takes maybe a day for the storm to clear, people to be out there and then they find these birds.”
Public attraction
Of the two albatrosses found in Wairarapa, one was released off Hawke’s Bay on Thursday.
Before it was set free, it was on public show on Wednesday afternoon at the Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery Centre in Palmerston North’s Esplanade gardens.
Centre manager Chris Smith said it was a rare chance for people to get so close to a seabird.
“It’s actually just out here for an hour for the public to get a chance to pop in and see something that’s pretty unusual,” he said.
“It’s not here for a long time, because they don’t do well in this environment, but it’s just here for a really unique chance for people to see it.”
A steady stream of people came in to see the bird, but many more were at the centre to see a large royal albatross injured in February’s storm.
The recovery centre opened in 2019 and attracts about 80,000 visitors a year.
Meanwhile, the albatross from Pātea had a few more days to get stronger in the indoor pool.
“Still being onshore in New Zealand is not where he’s supposed to be,” Jolly said. “He’s supposed to have fledged from his nest and gone out over the Pacific Ocean, and disappeared for a couple of years, then come back as perfectly coloured adult.”
He and the other bird found in Wairarapa would be released in the coming days.
On Thursday, another albatross likely injured last week arrived at Wildbase Hospital, suffering damage to its feet and dehydration.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
