The annual migration of seabirds from the North Pacific to the Australian east coast a staggering flight of more than 15,000 kilometres saw perished birds washing up on Newcastle shores at the weekend.
Each year, the short-tailed shearwater makes an epic flight from as far as Alaska towards Victoria and, in the case of non-breeding and immature birds, onto Antarctica. However, many never make the full journey and instead plummet down on Hunter, Central Coast, and Great Lakes beaches.
A Queensland University of Technology research team led by CSIRO scientist Lauren Roman found the birds had become so starved during flights that their natural instinct to recognise the krill and small fish they typically eat had failed.
The birds had been eating pumice rocks and plastics in their desperation for food.
The migrations of shearwaters are part of the natural life cycle for birds, though, and population rates have not declined.
In 2013, as many as three million birds were estimated to have died on the beaches after arriving, starved and spent and unable to take flight again, either perishing on the sand in a "wreck" or falling prey to local predatory dingoes and other animals.
Newcastle Herald readers contacted the paper on Saturday after a number of birds were seen on the sand at Newcastle Beach. They are suspected to be shearwaters as the annual migration, which typically runs during the mid- to later months of the year, comes around again.
Saturday's patchy cloud was expected to linger over the city on Sunday, with temperatures expected to reach 31 degrees, before a return to showers on Monday.
