FLYING LESSONS

Hutton’s Shearwaters are the world’s only alpine seabird, living for years entirely at sea and returning to the mountains to mate and raise chicks. Each year in March and April, these chicks leave their burrows in the Seaward Kaikōura ranges, at night, to make their first flight to the sea. But Hutton’s face unique challenges, and each fledging season sees hundreds of birds crash land on the streets around Kaikōura. I talked to Lorna Deppe, seabird scientist and chair of the Science Committee at The Hutton’s Shearwater Trust, about the mammoth effort being made by local volunteers to protect this taonga species.

Tell me about Hutton’s Shearwaters.

They’re these charismatic seabirds that are endemic to Kaikōura. They don’t live anywhere else in New Zealand, let alone the world, so they’re a very special bird for this region and its community, and for Māori. They have dark, tarmac-grey backs