The post on this topic was removed because the information had not been “properly released”. I found the following on the Bird Studies Canada website this morning, so I assume it must have been released now. Gary
Karen Baird said it was important that experts should get out to the breeding colonies to check on the harm occurring there. Among the dead birds recorded so far are 178 Common Diving-petrels Pelecanoides urinatrix, 114 Fluttering Shearwaters Puffinus gavia, 68 Buller’s Shearwaters Puffinus bulleri and 13 Little Penguins Eudyptula minor, along with smaller numbers of albatrosses and other species of petrel. “The fact the dead birds include numbers of Buller’s Shearwaters is significant, because they only breed on the Poor Knights Islands north of Auckland. This shows the zone of impact from the disaster has already spread outside the Bay of Plenty”, she said. Eleven oiled Little Penguins were taken to the Oiled Wildlife Response Unit in Mount Maunganui overnight and five New Zealand Dotterels Charadrius obscurus had been removed from areas threatened by oil pollution at Matakana Island, Maketu and Pukehina. “These three areas are important strongholds for New Zealand Dotterels, which are going into their breeding season. This is a highly endangered species, with only around 1,500 birds estimated to exist”, Karen Baird said. ===============================
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