Seabirds on shore: a postscript
Remember that seabird wreck back in July? N8N drove all the way to Raglan hoping to see a live broad-billed prion, only to find hundreds of dead ones strewn on the beach.
Yesterday, we were tidying a rough corner of the section, digging out a small clump of blackberry.
Under it was a very dead broad-billed prion – this poor chap is an indication of how far some of these birds were blown onshore.
We wonder how many others lie undiscovered around the country in quiet corners. It is certainly a new record for Gordonton.
These lovely little birds normally spend their whole lives at sea, except when they come ashore to breed, on the Chatham Islands and similar chilled places in the southern oceans.
Hundreds of thousands probably died in the July event, which makes it unprecedented in New Zealand recorded history.
