The difficulty of leaving town

They're about four months old, all fluffed up and cocksure and ready to confront the world head-on.

But with nature, if things can go wrong they probably will. Add youthful bravado, distractions and confusion to the mix and they'll certainly go wrong.

And in the case of 19 young grey-faced petrels trying to leave home it took the combined weight, resources and goodwill of a Government department, Bay Wildlife Trust, the Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and a security officer to get these youngsters back on track.

'Unfortunately, the petrels are a bit stupid when they're this young,” says Julia Graham of the Wildlife Trust.

Stupid because while they have just fledged and ready to answer the call of the wild and put to sea, they also get waylaid and bewildered. 'They're attracted by bright lights and noise,” says Julia. And on New Year's Eve there was plenty of that with fireworks, loud music and partying.

'Yes, they got distracted,” says Julia. The petrels took off on their maiden flight from the sanctuary on Mauao but instead of heading out to sea, the magnetism of Mount Maunganui proved too much and they ended up scattered around town. 'A young German tourist picked up a petrel waddling down the main street at midnight on New Year's Eve.” Another was recovered from a pedestrian crossing in Marine Parade.

A security officer gave it sanctuary in the bushes on Leisure Island – hopefully for a relaunch, hopefully in the right direction.

The problem for the petrels is they want to take off – out to sea, out of town – but they can't take-off. Not easily on flat land. They can't just flap their wings and fly like normal birds.

Petrels normally launch from their nests on the cliffs and hillsides where there are decent winds and updraughts. 'They're literally sitting ducks if they're grounded in town. They're very vulnerable,” says Julia. 'They'll just sit there or waddle about for hours because they need the altitude, the wind or a decent run-up to fly.”

That was one of 19 errant grey-faced petrels the ARRC and the Western Bay Wildlife Trust had to deal with on just one day. Three or four in a day, not unusual, but 19 is crazy. The bulk of them, flying by night, were lured by the twinkling lights of a ship en route from Wellington to Auckland and crash-landed on the upper decks.

'That behavior is a bit odd,” says Julia. 'It's not unusual for them to hang around ships but for them to land en masse on a ship at sea is abnormal.”

Julia says they might not have been locals. 'They could have been from Gisborne, Motiti or Mayor Island. Young impressionable birds that find themselves on a ship headed to Tauranga and wondering: ‘What is this place?'”

'The petrels were collected up in buckets and boxes and whatever crew could lay their hands on,” says ARRC's Sue Mackie. And next day they were delivered to ARRC. 'They were all in good condition apart from one that had an open leg fracture. It had to be euthanised.”

Once the grey-faced petrels were checked over by vets at ARRC they were handed back to Julia and the Western Bay Wildlife Trust, leg-banded and given another chance at a dignified and direct departure.

The trust was also recently entrusted with a wayward Cook's Petrel, which was found on a beach. It was probably from Little Barrier, one of just three breeding grounds. It's a classified as a vulnerable species, easily threatened and in decline because the limited breeding areas.

'It‘s a cool bird and not one we get very often,” says Julia. When she released the Cook's Petrel, it took off straight away. 'It was probably at Mayor Island in five minutes flat.”

But it's the number of grey-faced petrels that has staggered the rescuers. 'I have worked with ARRC for five years and have never encountered this,” says Sue. Then the SPCA delivered another four stray petrels for some specialised TLC.

The Western Bay Wildlife Trust does the field work and ARRC treats them. 'We work very closely together. It's a great team,” says Julia.

The grey-faced petrels are pelagic in that they will live and eat at sea around the continental shelf for their first three years before returning to their colonies. They might breed as early as age four but most delay until about eight or 10 years old.

And because of the good work of some caring people, there are 18 grey-faced petrels still in that life cycle.

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