I find it fascinating the different birdlife when sailing, you never see the types of birds from the shore that you see at sea.
Is it just me or do others have birds land on their yachts while sailing?
Last year it was an albatross while exiting Port Stephans at night(didnt even know we got them in oz until it virtually hit me in the head then tried to go downstairs!, had to block the companion way with my legs, before I threw this 'bigger than a turkey' big bird overboard).
Last month it was this bird off Seal Rocks, NSW (at night again), it sat in the cockpit for about 10 minutes before flying off.
cheers
Bluemoon that is a Mutton bird. If you grew up in Tasmania you would have dug up the squabs out of burrows for a feed! They migrate to Japan each year from their breeding grounds at Tasmania and a small colony at Jervis Bay. They can swim down to about 50 feet and a real hazard while fishing. During the summer months they can be about in large numbers. We had days where we could not pole tuna, they were that thick they blocked out the sky. Swishing the tuna poles around we were knocking them out of the air, they were between your face and your hands on the pole.
When we were stationary we could lean over the side and just pick them up. They would wander about the deck like chooks and not fly off because they could not see the sea or horizon. We would have to chuck them over.
I heard they are tasty animales /perhaps not so tasty / but
you can survive on them ?
Select to expand quote[quote/] They can swim down to about 50 feet
No NO, they fly down to 50 feet and have been seen near 100 feet down.
Taste good too.
Tasty sure, I read somewhere Tassies have seasonal license to kill
certain amount birds annually. They must be in shops or used for something.
There is overpopulation in Vic. and SA islands also warning for yachties when walking
on those islands, watch for big holes /their borrows/ you fell and break a leg
also don't stick your hand in, to pull the young ones, they seriously bite. ???
In New Zealand, mutton bird chicks are sold at most local fish and chip shops along with smoked snapper fillets, white bait and pauwa fritters, tinned Bluff Oysters (5 dozen to a tin) and mussels.
The mutton bird chicks are larger than their parents due to being fattened up by mum and dad in preparation for them to desert their offspring and roam the seas.
In the Kiwi fish and chip ( sorry, fush and choop ) shops the mutton birds are usually stored in brine in a 20 litre tin.
So you buy your mutton bird or birds wrapped in paper, take them home and place them in a pot that will contain the bird and two to three times the bird's volume of water (as you do with mud crabs, because this is the Kiwi version of mud crabs), then boil the water furiously for 10 to 15 minutes then drain the water and repeat the process another four times.
While doing this you have managed to stink your house out with the smell of halibut oil which you need to boil out of the bird before you eat it otherwise you might get a serious case of the runs.
It is somewhat akin to the method of preparing an Australian Cockatoo for consumption by boiling it up with a river rock, then throwing the cockatoo away and eating the river rock.
The difference is in the case of the mutton bird is that you eat the bird. When you pull on the bone of the bird and the flesh falls away, you have a pink meat that is an absolute delicacy.
What does it taste like??? Well it is one of those flavours where you say "That reminds me of .....uummmmm????
38nm off Sydney 8.30 pm a pigeon landed on the poop deck with a thud. Stayed aboard for long rest then took off as we neared Sydney.
Look closely in the dark in the picture and this is where it landed before i brought it on board and crushed a muesli bar for some seeds.
Steve
pigeons are pretty fast!
cisco said...
Anybody here ever eaten a mutton bird??
At the bottom of the South Island (NZ) there is a smaller island called, Stewart Island, Where you get off the boat or Sea plane, (i think its call House Shoe bay)( or maybe Half Moon Bay) there is a pub, about 45 years ago when i was a little younger, my perants went into the pub for a beer after the very rough sea journey across the Bass straight, we as kids were left to find something to amuse ourselves with, next to the pub was a old bloke cooking and selling freshly court fish, he offerd my two sisters and i something to eat, my two sisters said no thanks, unfortunatly i have never been known to turn down food so without giving it a second thought i stuffed pieces of unbeknown to me, Mutton Bird in my mouth, i have never tasted anything as bad as a mouthfull of salt and oil, absolutly the most horrible thing ive ever tasted, 45 years later while im writing this i reacon i can still taste it.
That means that you and I, cisco, are the only ones here who have enjoyed eating muttom birds!!
