Flock on RNZ Checkpoint: Wellington's Wild Weather and Its Injured Birds

Wellington's weather has been making headlines all winter, and at the end of June it took our little rescue along for the ride. On 29 June, our founder Nys spoke with Lisa Owen on RNZ's Checkpoint about what the capital's relentless blustery weather means for its birds, and why our admission numbers keep climbing.

You can listen to the full interview on RNZ here.

The same two seabirds also made the papers. You can read about our NZ Herald feature here.

What we talked about

More than 640 birds have come through our doors this year, and the weather is a big part of that story. Every time a serious southerly rolls through, the phone starts ringing. High winds mean window strikes, grounded birds, and exhausted patients who have simply been outmatched by the conditions.

The stars of this particular story were two seabirds who ended up a very long way from home. A mottled petrel turned up in Alicetown and a fairy prion was found in Upper Hutt, both grounded by the storms and completely unable to take off again from land. Both birds were stabilised at Flock and then transferred on to the specialist team at

The Nest Te Kōhanga at Wellington Zoo, with transport help from our wonderful colleague Tony Stoddard at Kererū Discovery. It takes a village to get a pelagic seabird back where it belongs, and we are lucky to have such a good one.

Why do storms ground seabirds?

Petrels and prions spend almost their entire lives at sea. Big storm systems can push them inland, where exhaustion, disorientation and city lights bring them down into streets, gardens and carparks. Once they are on flat ground they are stuck, because their bodies are built for launching off waves and cliffs, not lawns. A grounded seabird is always an emergency, even if it looks calm.

If you find one, the drill is simple. Ventilated box, towel, warm, dark and quiet, no food or water, and contact us or another rescue straight away. We have a full rundown of this and every other common bird emergency in our guide to Wellington's most searched bird rescue questions.

Thank you

A huge thank you to Lisa Owen and the Checkpoint team for shining a light on Wellington's wild patients, and to every single person who has scooped a battered bird into a box this winter and got it to help. Those 640 plus admissions represent 640 plus moments where someone stopped and cared.

Media coverage like this helps enormously, but the day to day work runs on community support. If you would like to help us keep the doors open through the rest of this stormy winter, you can make a donation here. Every dollar goes directly to patient care.