By Elizabeth Puranam
The Department of Conservation in Northland has been inundated with thousands of dead birds falling from the sky and washing ashore.
They are further victims of the wild southern storms that have swept the country for the past week.
Beaches on the west coast have been littered with the seabirds and Pouto on the Kaipara Harbour is one of the worst affected.
Beautiful Pouto beach looks more like a wasteland today as DOC staff were busy rescuing the remaining prions who had battled through strong winds and large sea swells caused by this week's stormy weather.
More than 200 dead prions have been found on this one kilometre stretch of beach alone.
DOC ranger Jeff Hall says it is down to “this constant sort of west, south-west cycle that we've been in for the last week or ten days”.
“These guys have just been trying to get out of the storms.”
DOC say thousands of the Antarctic seabirds have fallen on Northland's beaches and roads and most have already died.
“The few live ones we found yesterday, we took home and tried to keep warm and feed.
“They're very tired and very fatigued.”
In other parts of the North Island, hundreds of birds have been given shelter and food. Wellington Zoo has helped more than 600 prions in the past week alone.
But in Northland it is not just the small birds struggling with the wild weather. A giant petrel needed rescuing too, even if it seemed a little ungrateful.
DOC wants anyone who comes across a sick bird to shift it to a sheltered location, even behind sand dunes. But they say this is a natural event and sadly not all the birds will weather this storm.
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