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Seabirds found dead on New Zealand beaches in 1991, and a review of Morus and Sula species recoveries, 1943 to 1991

  • Publication Type

    Journal Article

  • Publication Year

    1993

  • Author(s)

    R.G. Powlesland; M.H. Powlesland

  • Journal Name

    Notornis

  • Volume, Issue

    40, 4

  • Pagination

    233-245

  • Article Type

    paper

Keywords

No Keywords associated with this content


Seabirds found dead on New Zealand beaches in 1991, and a review of Morus and Sula species recoveries, 1943 to 1991

Notornis, 40 (4), 233-245

R.G. Powlesland; M.H. Powlesland (1993)

Article Type: paper

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In 1991, 4780 km of coast of New Zealand were patrolled and 6955 dead seabirds were found as pan of the Beach Patrol Scheme. An unusual find was a Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda), and more than usual were found of the Antarctic Petrel (Thalassoica antarctica), White-headed Petrel (Pterodroma lessonii), Little Black Shag (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) and Brown Skua (Catharacta skua lonnbergi). A summary is given of the coastal and monthly distributions of Morus and Sula species found during the 1943-1991 period. Overall, 5637 Australasian Gannets (Morus serrator) were found, mainly on beaches of the northern half of the North Island. The peak period of adult recoveries was in December-February, but that of juveniles was in February-May. Both the Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) and the Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) are vagrants to the New Zealand mainland, with four and one individuals respectively having been found by patrollers.