Cyclone Vaianu<\/a>.<\/p>\nDanielle Hill, the founder and operator of Wairarapa-based Ngahuia Wild Bird Rescue, said birds could be affected by the storm, but it was hard to estimate its impact until birds started being found.<\/p>\n
“We won’t know until people find birds in their back yards or in other unusual places. In previous severe weather a number of small sea birds turned up in Masterton and Greytown,” she said.<\/p>\n
“After Cyclone Gabrielle about 15 sea birds were found across Wairarapa, mostly in Masterton town. Those included black petrels, sooty shearwaters, and fairy prions.<\/p>\n
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“They were all birds you would never normally see inland. I’m not sure if it will be similar this time.”<\/p>\n
She thought it unlikely to see a repeat of mid-February’s wild weather, when as many as seven albatrosses were found stranded across the lower North Island.<\/p>\n
If anyone did find an albatross, the bird would almost always need help getting back to sea.<\/p>\n
“An albatross can’t generally take off from land. They normally take off from water,” she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Danielle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JQ6OSS_1000664583__1___1___1_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nDanielle Hill, of Ngahuia Wild Bird Rescue, with a rescued albatross. Hill advises people finding wild birds in trouble after the recent storm, to contact either DOC or their local wild bird rescue centre.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n
Hill said people finding birds needed to be careful not to touch them, and advised getting the bird into a safe spot and then calling a local bird rescue centre. She said unusual avian behaviour could be a sign the bird needed help.<\/p>\n
“Birds need to be brought in really quickly. People who find a bird needing help should contact us, DOC, or their local bird rehabilitation centre,” she said.<\/p>\n
“A seabird shouldn’t be in your garden.<\/p>\n
“People should watch out for birds not common to the area. It is not normal for a bird to let you approach it.”<\/p>\n
She advised people not to touch the bird with their hands, and said using a towel to carefully pick the bird up was generally advised.<\/p>\n
“All sea birds found after a storm need to be checked for waterproofing, injuries and underlying illness.<\/p>\n
“If a bird is touched by people’s hands it can remove waterproofing from their feathers.<\/p>\n
“If people are unsure what to do, a good way to check is to send a photo into their local centre for advice.”<\/p>\n
Hill strongly advised against feeding the birds or giving them anything to drink. They should be kept instead in a well-ventilated box until they can be taken to an expert. People also need to be aware of their own safety when handling rescued birds.<\/p>\n
Ngahuia has received funding from South Wairarapa District Council.<\/p>\n
“If it wasn’t for the council we wouldn’t be operating,” Hill said.<\/p>\n
“The funding helped us get set up.”<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A white faced storm petrel rescued by Ngahuia wild bird rescue. Photo: Supplied A lower North Island wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-378303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378303","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=378303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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