Sea Birds

In the years that I fished we generally operated fairly close to shore, especially in the Lobster and Herring fisheries. But for Cod and Snow Crab we fished some 7 to 40 miles offshore.

We saw heaps of sea birds every day; Guillemots, Terns, Auks, Petrels (Mother Carey’s Chickens) and numerous species of Gulls just to name a few.

When we fished Cod we gutted our catch at sea and gathered up clouds of Gulls; mostly Herring Gulls. They put on spectacular displays of close quarters flying swooping and diving for the tasty morsels we put over the side.  They were as raucous and feisty as can be; squawking and squabbling over their free lunch. They were also beautiful. There is nothing on Earth as dazzlingly white as a Gull in the brilliant sun of a July morning.

Offshore a piece we encountered another bird which was my all time favourite; the Shearwater. Shearwaters are a gull-like bird a bit smaller than a Common Gull. They are slate coloured to dark green on the back and head and sort of buff to dusky white on the underside. They have very dark heads, thin slightly crook-ed wings and are brilliant flyers. You can find them in any of the birds of North America books.

They are totally unimpressed by the Gulls and so much more civil. They have a noticeable disdain for the gulls and their goings on. Shearwaters are ever so cheerful though and have a very endearing habit of putting their head under water and paddling around looking for krill, small scraps or other morsels. They are never seen close to land.

These birds also have a wonderful habit of soaring parallel to the sea in the trough of a six foot or so swell and dipping their wing tip into the front face of the swell where it is glassy smooth and thus they make a slight trace on the water. It is a delicate maneuver requiring great flying skill and they give a distinct impression that they do it just for the sheer joy of it.  

Hence the name; Shearwater.

They brightened my day every time I saw one.

Now when I was in Tasmania for 7 months a couple of years ago I happened to see a TV documentary about Shearwaters. It seems that they live North of 42 degrees latitude or so and breed South of 40 or so. They breed on the Furneaux and Flinders Island groups in the Bass Strait which separates Tasmania from the Australian Continent. Well they breed in other southern places as well.

Now they raise their chicks in deep burrows dug into the mud cliffs of these islands. The parents both feed the hatchlings and the chicks grow to a very large size; perhaps twice the weight of the adults. They are butter balls. There is an industry of sorts around harvesting these chicks and they can be bought in local shops in Tasmania as “Mutton Birds” and are a seasonal treat. The harvest is very closely controlled by the Tassie government.

In fact Mutton Birds were responsible for saving the convict settlement on Norfolk Island from starvation the first year of its establishment. The survivors of that first year compared their miraculous abundance to the quails and manna which fed the Israelites in the Book of Exodus.

Shearwaters apparently mate for life and are very long- lived. A bird tagged in 1952 was recovered off the coast of the Shetland Islands in 2000 or so.

The adults leave for the North, a trip of over half way around the world long before the chicks are fledged. The young are left on their own to survive and mature on their accumulated fat. Once fledged they take off on their own to navigate the 15,000 km or more to their summer home on teir own and without guidance; this is a truly remarkable thing.

Besides man they are preyed upon by the island variant of the Tasmanian Tiger Snake. The Tigers of the Flinders Islands are positively Jurassic! On Tassie this highly venomous creature grows to about 6 – 8 feet. On the Flinders Islands they may attain 14 – 16 feet! And they eat only Mutton Bird chicks. It seems they gorge for two or three months of the year then remain more or less dormant the rest of the year surviving on their accumulated fat reserves.

The human Mutton Bird hunters locate a burrow and then reach into it bare-handed! If it feels cold they pull their hand out immediately as that indicates that there is a Tiger Snake in the burrow. If it is warm they grope about and capture the chick. Yikes!

Anyway it was interesting to learn just what a romantic and potentially tragic life the Shearwater leads. Considering their unique travels and travails it is no wonder they have such an infectious joie de vivre.

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