Mystery surrounds why hundreds of dead birds have washed up on Sydney's beaches - as experts say something is going 'drastically wrong' and declare a crisis

Corpses of short-tailed shearwaters have been spotted at several shorelines 

The birds are migrating back to southern Australia to breed but dying on way 

Krill and other fish they feed on have dwindled due to sea temperatures rising

By CHARLIE MOORE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 04:09, 18 November 2019 | UPDATED: 12:08, 18 November 2019

Hundreds of dead birds are washing up on Sydney's iconic beaches.

The corpses of short-tailed shearwaters have been spotted at several shorelines including Bondi, Manly and Cronulla.

The birds are migrating back to southern Australia to breed after spending the summer in Alaska.

Hundreds of dead birds are washing up on Sydney's iconic beaches. Pictured: The corpses of short-tailed shearwaters on an Australian beach in October

But, according to experts, a higher number than usual are dying on the way due to a lack of food.

The birds need to be at full strength to make the 14,000km trip over the Pacific but the krill and other fish they feed on have apparently dwindled due to sea temperatures rising. 

Each year around 30,000 birds land at Griffiths Island at Port Fairy in Victoria but this time only half that number have made it, according to Peter Barrand, the president of BirdLife Warrnambool. 

Explaining why, he told Yahoo News: 'Water temperatures are rising, the fish shearwaters feed on are not coming into the shallows.

'There's certainly something that's going drastically wrong'.

The Short-tailed Shearwater is Australia's most numerous seabird. 

During breeding season, millions converge on many small islands from NSW to Western Australia, with their stronghold in Bass Strait. 

After their chicks are large enough to fend for themselves, the adults leave the breeding islands and migrate north-east, flying on a broad front through the central Pacific Ocean, where immense numbers were seen by Captain Cook. 

They spend the southern winter at sea in the northern Pacific, off Japan, Siberia and Alaska.

Source: BirdLife Australia 

BirdLife Australia has rendered the problem a 'crisis'.

In a statement on its website, the group says: 'For the fifth consecutive year, the sea surface temperatures off Alaska have been unusually warm, which has led to a dire shortage of the shearwaters' marine prey, resulting in thousands of dead shearwaters being washed ashore along Alaska's beaches. 

Continued

Record number of shearwater birds taken into care after getting lost on journey north

ABC Radio Hobart 

By Georgie Burgess

Posted Fri at 5:37am

The short-tailed shearwater can fly from remote Tasmanian waters to the Arctic Circle in a matter of weeks, but at the moment it's having trouble navigating its way out of Hobart.

A record number of shearwaters (Tasmanian mutton birds) have been taken into care after becoming disorientated and stranded around the city.

They can fly more than a million kilometres over their lifetime; every year juvenile birds leave their island burrows to fly north, and many become lost after taking a wrong turn.

Members of the public have reported seeing them dead on the busy Tasman Bridge or stranded on roads and footpaths around Hobart.

The nearest colonies are on islands around Storm Bay, so the birds shouldn't be seen outside these areas.

Birdlife Tasmania's Eric Woehler said they should be heading north-east on their journey to the Northern Hemisphere.

"We've seen an unexpected and novel event occurring this autumn, with young short-tailed shearwaters heading inland rather than heading out to sea and north to the Pacific," he said.

The birds spend the Australian winter in the western Pacific near Japan and Russia, as well as Alaska, before returning for the breeding season.

Read on

Exhaustion killed hundreds of mutton birds found on Middleton Beach

HUNDREDS of dead birds found washed ashore at Middleton Beach over the weekend were exhausted short-tailed shearwaters, which fly thousands of kilometres to breed across southern Australia.

More than 20 million shearwaters, also known as mutton birds, make the journey to southern Australia, including South Australia, from the north Pacific each year but many run out of reserves during the journey and die - often washing up on islands near Ceduna, or along the South Coast.

Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources marine scientist Brad Page said the birds arrived within a day or two of each other.

"The islands off Ceduna are the hot spots for shearwaters in SA," he said.

"They travel enormous distances every year and unless they get enough to eat on the journey, they can easily die from starvation.

"Any food shortage along the way can have fatal effects, and birds often make it back to southern Australia with almost no energy reserves.

Continued

6000 Muttonbird nests destroyed on Tasmania to make way for a golf course

Muttonbirds left homeless on Tasmania

October 2013. Developers on Tasmania's King Island have destroyed thousands of burrows in a Short-tailed Shearwater breeding colony at Cape Wickham. Why? To make way for a golf course.

Huge migration

The burrows were due to be occupied by the birds in a few days, as the shearwaters are currently returning to Bass Strait on the return leg of their epic migratory flight back from the northernmost waters of the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Bass Strait form the stronghold of the species, with most of the world's population breeding there. Each year the birds usually return to the same colony, with most breeding in the same burrows they used in previous years.

"Shearwaters are about to return to their colonies from their annual migration to the North Pacific," said Dr Eric Woehler, Convenor of BirdLife Tasmania, "but when the birds return to Cape Wickham, many will find their colony - one that's been used for decades - is now a golf course."

6000 burrows bulldozed

The colony hosted an estimated 45,000 burrows, of which at least 6000 have been bulldozed to make way for the golf course at the northern end of King Island. Some of these burrows may have been occupied by the same shearwaters for up to 40 years.

"It's going to have an impact on the population," said Dr Woehler.

Approval from local ministry

Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) gave the project its approval on the condition of the construction ‘respecting' the birds during their breeding season and that an alternative site ‘adjacent the golf course' is offered as an offset, supposedly providing another area for the birds to nest in.

"It beggars belief to think that a wild bird which has nested in one location for many years will happily pick up and settle down 'adjacent the golf course' just because the [King Island] Council, DPIPWE and the developer prefer them to do so," continued Dr Woehler. "The birds should decide where to lay their eggs and raise their young, not the developers of a golf course".

This situation highlights the folly of allowing developers to use offsets in the pretence that their activities will not adversely affect the wildlife that their developments have displaced.

Profound lack of understanding of the muttonbirds

"The approval by DPIPWE and associated conditions underlines the profound lack of understanding of the muttonbirds' biology and breeding requirements, and is a manifest comprehensive failure to protect the species," he added. "The lack of any effort to protect these birds and their colony suggests that golf courses are more important than this nationally- and internationally-protected species."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/muttonbird-tasmania.html