Bonorong rescues threatened NSW’s petrel from Hobart cruise ship

Bonorong helped one unusual animal head home for Christmas – the first of its kind ever seen at the sanctuary. Watch.

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary were able to make one bird’s Christmas wish come true and help him get back home for the holidays after an unlikely rescue in Hobart.

Wildlife carers at Bonorong were called out late last week to Hobart’s waterfront after one of the cruise ships docked and realised they had one additional passenger – a Providence petrel.

Providence petrels – or Pterodroma solandri – are seabirds typically only found on Lord Howe Island and parts of Norfolk Island off the coast of New South Wales.

The birds were once hunted to extinction on the main Norfolk Island in the early 1800s, declaring the species vulnerable in New South Wales.

Providence petrel sea bird being released at Sydney's North Head. NSW / Animal

However, once the juvenile is able to fly, the young petrel then fly away from their nesting place and travel areas of the Pacific Ocean for a period of at least five years before they return to land to breed – a common quirk for albatross and petrel birds.

Their time at sea is often when they come into trouble, said Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary director Greg Irons.

“Sometimes seabirds can over-estimate their abilities of travel and become exhausted,” he said.

“In cases like this, cruise ships with their brightness and lights at sea, are a place for these birds to crash land to rest for a while. This little fella was assessed by our staff at the scene who determined he was luckily just dehydrated and a little underweight.”

Greg Irons, director of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

The bird’s appearance was a first for the Bonorong team, who had never seen or treated one previously as most Providence petrels don’t land as far south as Tasmania.

“These birds have the most incredible navigation system to determine where they are and where they are going, so when we come across them in events like these – you know they were feeling pretty poorly,” Mr Irons said.

Bonorong staff soon put the rescued petrel’s navigation to the test, enlisting Rob Pennicott and a Pennicott Wilderness Journeys boat to release the petrel back to the ocean at Tasman Island to find his way home last Saturday.

“It’s great to have a feel-good story for a threatened seabird and it really helps the team feel good about our work,” Mr Irons said.

“Seabirds can be quite vulnerable from crash landing into things, including a number of incidents involving birds flying into roofs on moonlit nights – it might be worth checking that crash on your roof to see if it is a seabird.”