At around the same time every year, seabirds are washed up on beaches. What are they and what is happening to them?
These birds are Short-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris). Annual die-offs of this species occur between September to February, with high mortality in October fairly common. These birds migrate annually from Australian breeding islands to the north-western Pacific, returning south in spring. The mortality is due to a combination of exhaustion and starvation, and may be higher in juveniles, but in relation to total numbers, the number of deaths does not significantly affect the species.
