Back to the wild for albatross

MURRAY WILSON/The Manawatu Standard

EARLY RELEASE: Kerri Morgan and Micah Jensen releasing the recovered albatross five kilometres off Foxton Beach.

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Albatross can occasionally sink on release at sea, so several people held their breath yesterday, as one of Massey University's albatross patients was released back into the wild.

The underweight, wandering albatross was found badly bleeding and tangled in an electric fence by a Tangimoana farmer last week.

Since it was taken to the New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre at Massey it had regained much of its strength, and was clearly rearing to go, banging its wings against the side of its cage.

Friday was a calm, clear day, so because albatross don't fare well in captivity the decision was made for an early release off Foxton Beach, with a little help from the Manawatu coastguard.

Vet resident at the centre Micah Jensen said albatross need to take off from a height, either from a cliff, or at sea from the crest of a wave or swell.

"We saw him preening yesterday, and we were like yes! If the feathers hadn't been right, sometimes they can sink.

"When they preen they put their feathers back together, they latch together."

While they were quietly confident that this albatross was ready to go, she was prepared to dive in after it if the worst happened.

Instead, Ms Jensen and colleague Kerri Morgan carefully lowered the huge bird over the side of the rescue boat, where it sat in the water stretching its impressive three-metre wingspan.

It splashed about, getting water over its feathers to help distribute the oil that helps keep it afloat.

Then it turned and looked suspiciously back at the boat, and began to paddle away, keeping a wary eye on its releasers.

You couldn't have asked for a more perfect release. The albatross was quite happily afloat, and it had been so well fed on a diet of salmon that it could have sat there for several days before it felt right to catch a wave and take off, Ms Jensen said.

Albatross spend 95 per cent of their lives in the air or at sea, and usually dive to catch fish, so it probably wouldn't be hunting until it gets up in the air.

Despite really wishing she could know the albatross was going to be all right, she took the hostility and aggression as a good omen.

"It's a great sign when they're having a go at you because then you know they're strong."

While in care, Ms Jensen had stitched up a 10cm gash on its inner wing and gave the bird a course of antibiotics and pain relief.

"It was incredibly lucky it didn't break a wing, and it just missed a large nerve."

She also operated on the clinic's other albatross inpatient yesterday, to insert metal pins to mend its broken leg. The orthopaedic surgery was particularly difficult, because the hollow centre of albatross bones are connected to the lungs and air sacks.

"They breathe through those bones too. So if you ever get fluid into the bones of a bird they can die."

The juvenile northern royal albatross was flown to the wildlife centre on Wednesday from its home at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin. It appeared to have injured itself by tripping over in its own nest, she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News