As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 30 June 2016

Reopening wharf could scare off rare shag

Since being closed to the public, Oamaru's historic Sumpter Wharf has become a breeding colony for an endangered and little-known species of shag.

Dr Chris Lalas

And with the Waitaki District Council now investigating reopening the 200m-long wharf to the public, scientists who know the birds are concerned.

Dunedin-based researcher Dr Chris Lalas, who has been studying shags for the last 40 years, first discovered Otago shag nests at the wharf in 2014.

"If it gets opened up to the public, it will totally destroy it as a shag location,'' Dr Lalas said.

Human use and an Otago shag breeding colony were "not compatible''.

Like the more common spotted shag, which are also a common sight on the wharf, it was believed Otago shags only roosted at the wharf and he was surprised to find them breeding there.

In 2015, he counted 235 nests at the wharf.

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