Notornis, 40 (4), 233-245
Article Type: paper
In 1991, 4780 km of coast of New Zealand were patrolled and 6955 dead seabirds were found as pan of the Beach Patrol Scheme. An unusual find was a Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda), and more than usual were found of the Antarctic Petrel (Thalassoica antarctica), White-headed Petrel (Pterodroma lessonii), Little Black Shag (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) and Brown Skua (Catharacta skua lonnbergi). A summary is given of the coastal and monthly distributions of Morus and Sula species found during the 1943-1991 period. Overall, 5637 Australasian Gannets (Morus serrator) were found, mainly on beaches of the northern half of the North Island. The peak period of adult recoveries was in December-February, but that of juveniles was in February-May. Both the Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) and the Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) are vagrants to the New Zealand mainland, with four and one individuals respectively having been found by patrollers.