Ground Nesting Birds – Turn off Unnecessary Lights

The Ghost Birds are ground nesting birds, and their burrows can be seen around the Norfolk Island coastal zones and also on road edges. The Wedge-tailed Shearwater is known on Norfolk Island as the Ghost Bird because of the ghostly bird call at night-time, and elsewhere is also known as the Mutton Bird.

This time of the year is the Ghost Bird’s breeding season when eggs are laid in burrows on the cliff edges and chicks are raised in the underground nests. It is a time of the year when we need to be environmentally mindful of the birds returning to our shores to breed. It is important to turn off unnecessary lights or dim our lights so not to disorientate the birds around our shorelines.

Last season when walking the roadway near 100 Acres Reserve, I found dead birds on the road verge. It was sad to see, and I realised the birds must have been hit by vehicles and I felt concerned that this is an ongoing problem as the bird’s habitat is along the clifftop roadway. It is sad when there are deaths of the adult birds, the young chick survival is unlikely. The birds lay only one egg and it takes about five years for the adult bird to reach breeding age.

The Norfolk Island Flora & Fauna Society have identified that “Birds Crossing “signage is needed in clifftop roadway areas like 100 Acres and Headstone to remind drivers to take care of the ground birds on the roadways. The process to install signage on the roadway has proven to be complicated and is ongoing. It was hoped to have signs installed for the 2022/23 breeding season.

Until warning signage can be organised, it is important that drivers take care when driving in the coastal road areas, especially at night when birds are returning to the burrows to care for their chicks. Here are a couple of images of the dead Ghost Birds I found on 13th January 2022, on Headstone Road, near 100 Acres Reserve.

Thank you to the community for assisting with keeping the Ghost Birds safe.

Betty Matthews

October 2022