{"id":247674,"date":"2026-01-23T10:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T10:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247674\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T10:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T10:16:07","slug":"storm-hit-petrels-recovered-and-ready-for-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247674\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm-hit petrels recovered and ready for release"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey get caught in the storms<\/a>, they\u2019ll come into the shore, and then they\u2019ll fly inland. Some of them have been known to fly as far as Kauri and Te Kamo \u2013 all around the place. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey normally fly until they see some bright lights and then they\u2019ll go and land beside them \u2013 it\u2019s quite common for them to do that. They used to come in when the oil refinery was working, because of the flare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, nine of the recently rescued birds had since died, but the others were fighting fit and would soon be released.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a bad recovery rate, really, given the sodden state many were in when rescued,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a very soft bird, so they lose their waterproofing quite quickly, and then they can\u2019t swim or survive on the ocean, because they normally live on the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said anyone who had visited the Poor Knights Islands would no doubt be familiar with the birds, which can gather in their hundreds on the surface of the ocean there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey look quite impressive, especially when they\u2019re feeding and diving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other issue for storm-embattled birds was being \u201csandblasted\u201d in high winds when their feathers were already saturated, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a little penguin come in yesterday \u2013 the sand was just absolutely caked on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RecoveredRecovered and ready to go back to sea … One of 11 grey-faced petrels soon to be released at Onerahi. Photo \/ Sarah Curtis <\/p>\n

It usually took only a couple of days at the centre for drenched birds to dry out and regain their waterproofing before they were ready to go back out to sea, Webb said.<\/p>\n

However, some birds had already become too cold before they arrived and later died of pneumonia.<\/p>\n

The recovered birds would be released at Onerahi, which Webb said was an ideal location.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s calmer water there, and they can see the ocean \u2013 they can go straight down to the harbour to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we took them out to the coast, the weather conditions would probably still be too rough, and they\u2019d have to contend with big waves, which would just push them backwards again.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the few days it took them to recover, the birds didn\u2019t need to be fed. Webb said it was better not to feed them when their stress levels were high, as there was a risk they might choke.<\/p>\n

To help reduce stress, the birds had been allowed to explore the centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast night we had most of them out on the floor, walking all around \u2013 up and down the passage, they went into offices, they were running around as if they owned the bloody place.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were kept together in large cages at the centre, where they could snuggle beside and on top of each other.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis young kiwi was hatched just before Christmas 2025 at Whang\u0101rei Native Bird Recovery Centre, where it and a sibling are being raised until they’re big enough to release. Photo \/ Emily Faulkner-Curtis<\/p>\n

While the birds have powerful beaks and can deliver a painful bite, Webb said they had so little contact with humans in the wild that they did not instinctively behave aggressively.<\/p>\n

Other birds brought to the centre over the past few days included t\u016b\u012b and kingfishers.<\/p>\n

Longer-term residents include two kiwi chicks hatched at the centre before Christmas, several t\u016b\u012b chicks brought in during earlier hot weather, and a harrier hawk soon to be released back to its home near Dargaville. <\/p>\n

According to New Zealand Birds Online (NZBO), grey\u2011faced petrels breed mainly around northern New Zealand, on offshore islands and a few mainland headlands. <\/p>\n

More than 100 colonies exist, mostly small, with the largest on island groups including the Three Kings, Hen and Chickens, Mokohinau, Mercury, Alderman, Cuvier, Moutohora, White and East Islands. <\/p>\n

They breed from March to January, raising a single chick which fledges between November and January at about 118 days old.<\/p>\n

Some iwi harvest grey-faced petrel chicks between mid-November and mid-December under customary rights.<\/p>\n

Adults forage widely during breeding, travelling thousands of kilometres across the Tasman Sea and surrounding waters. The global population is estimated at 200,000\u2013300,000 breeding pairs.<\/p>\n

Ongoing threats include long-line fishing bycatch and habitat loss. Conservation measures include predator eradication and colony protection.<\/p>\n

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, covering a wide range of issues. She has 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, mostly as a court reporter in Gisborne and on the East Coast. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey get caught in the storms, they\u2019ll come into the shore, and then they\u2019ll fly inland. Some of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[95,144481,93307,48884,2082,809,5829,111,139,24926,69,144480,6560,34592,8244,8694,2887,147,144479,666,19554,165,42032,85597,4998,406,102],"class_list":["post-247674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-and","tag-birdlife","tag-constant","tag-feathers","tag-for","tag-keep","tag-many","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northlands","tag-nz","tag-petrels","tag-rain","tag-ready","tag-recent","tag-recovered","tag-release","tag-science","tag-stormhit","tag-struggling","tag-taken","tag-their","tag-toll","tag-waterproof","tag-weather","tag-wildlife","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}