Bad season for birding

Press, 31 May 1980, Page 1

Bad season for birding

It has been a bad season for mutton birding off the Southland coast, with the result that the birds are not very plentiful in Christchurch. Mr Alan Wixon, a birder of 22 years experience, told “The Press” from Bluff yesterday that. only about half the usual tally of birds were able to be taken from the mutton bird islands during the birding season which began on April 1 and ended on May 4. Mr Wixon said that many were too small

to take, and he noticed that many were, orphans. He could not explain why the season was so bad, but said that it happened every so often. Rumours have been circulating that the season was affected by the Japanese 1 fishing trawlers working off the Southland . coast. Mr Wixon said that the only way that that could be true was if the trawlers were trawling mother birds in their nets. However, there was little likelihood of the fishermen

ever taking away the birds’ food supply because the muttonbird was an excellent fisher. .’■•j r? The- mutton birds, also ran into some kind of’ trouble at the end of April which caused them to become stranded on Southland beaches. According to the senior field officer .of the Southland Acclimatisation Society (Mr R. R. Sutton) the “wreck” involved thousands of birds. The birds are usually pickled by the birders on the- islands after being

plucked and gutted. They are usually packed in tins or plastic cans holding about two to three dozen birds, each weighing from 250 grams to 400 grams. Inquiries at fish shops in Christchurch yesterday showed that the biras were not easy to come by, and that those that were available were described as “skinny” but selling well at $2.20 a bird. Bigger birds fetched $2.50 to $2.70 in shops last year. - ;