Having had a bit to do with Mutton Birds (Short-Tailed Shearwaters) I feel I must respond to an article on the deaths of these creatures as printed last week in your newspaper (CCN415).
In my opinion these birds are not succumbing to our weather as reported.
This has been nothing and is ever nothing compared to the elements they fly in below Tasmania and New Zealand or Alaska and the Siberian Coast as they migrate.
And in my opinion it certainly has nothing to do with changes in water temperature, where these birds cross the equator twice a year.
A shortage of food – sardines, whitebait, pilchards etc- is the prime reason for this event and is nothing new (although) perhaps we haven’t seen it this bad for several years.
But it has been worse.
Any local ocean fisho will tell you how desperate these birds are for a feed – it’s almost impossible to drop a baited hook in the water without them attacking it.
They will dive down more than 10m to get your bait and sometimes won’t let it go even if not hooked.
It is almost pointless to try to rescue these migratory birds when they appear sick on the beach.
The only thing you can do is leave a bit of fish beside them and hope they might eat it after you leave.
Email, Nov 13
Campbell Black, North Entrance