Hello everyone ,
well it was father’s day today and mum picked up dad from Rose Lodge and we all met up at Debbie and Pauls for a family lunch ,

And just like usual I didn’t actually bring anything for  the lunch except myself , so we all eventually sat down to a smorgasbord of great  home cooked food ,
and a great dessert.

Dylan rang me after lunch from New York ,
It was nice to chat to him but his dress sense isn’t quite mine .

It was after lunch that the conversation between the two old men got a bit more interesting.
As dad was talking to one of his old Flat Rocks  mates about the past ,
his mate mentioned to dad  how about when they usto  go mutton birding ,
over forty years ago.

Mutton birds were and are definitely an acquired taste ,
and it seems that the taste for them was stronger after a belly full of beer at the Wonthaggi Club .

So just the male Shearwaters actually fly back into Australia in late September in strong winds,

They have the job to clean out their nest and get it just so ,
from exactly the same nest from the last year ,
Once the male cleans it
so its ready now for the expectant safe arrival of their  life partner and mate a few short weeks later ,

They then breed and each pair have just  one single egg ,
to take care of,
that if its fertile will hatch into a chick that both of the parents will hunt food and feed the hungry youngster .

When the adult birds leave Australia without the chicks in April they will fly an  incredible return journey distance from Alaska and Siberia flying up to a 16,000 km on a round trip ,

That’s incredible.

I have been lucky enough to be out in Bass Straight in Tiger Ben for a migration of Shearwaters both overhead and also resting everywhere on the water ,
with like massive big black snaking rivers of birds in the sky all together on the fly  
and they are so thick that they blacken up the sky .

Usually  when there are heaps  of birds on the water that they take flight when the boat reaches them .

Its quite a magical sight.

So another interesting fact is that shearwaters only frequent Islands .
They will never ever nest on the mainland.

They are humanly commercially harvested on King Island  way out  in Bass Straight.

They are available for purchase from King Island in pairs in vacuum sealed  bags locally from the San Remo  Fishermans Co’op and I believe that the cost is around $23 per pair .

So back to the story and what was sort of a tradition over the years with the Flat Rocks crew in April ,
to  have a few drinks and then go out muttonbirding ,

So they would meet up at the club and have a skinful of beers and probably a few muscats or ports to give them a bit of bravery.

You see mutton birding was then and is especially now highly illegal in Victoria and it has big fines attached ,
if one was caught ,

And both Parks and fisheries hotly pursued and peruse partakers in the poaching of the birds at Philip Island.

So come April when the first mutton bird gales come ,
the three poachers knew on the next strong winds in two weeks time that there ,
was their opening .

So back  then .05 wasn’t really  heavily enforced,
So they had devised a plan  and put it in place as they left the club ,
There were four people involved in the poaching and they then headed off to Philip Island ,
There were already wounded birds all over the  Philip Island bri and road as the strong bridge lights draws the birds in  by disorienting their navigation systems ,
to an unfortunate crashing death.
But they just leave those birds  behind and  continue to drive on.

The car was near the turn off now and they take a quick left and head  for the Cape Woolamai sand dunes .
I bet that the adrennilin was rushing through their veins .
This is where there well oiled plan  would come to fruition,

The car would drop off the trio and head back to the shops to wait patiently for Fifteen minutes.
For a planned pick up.

So the only thing that the trio would have in their possession is a hessian sack .
No torches allowed as that’s a dead set giveaway.

So hopefully there would a bit of moonlight and they would then quiet as possible even with a few too many drinks they would  step  as quietly as possible and  they enter the sand  dunes rookery   and one man would simply kneel down in front of the  first burrow and reach inside it with his hand,
if it was warm it was safe and you quickly grab the chick and quickly pass it on to the next guy. 
If it was actually cold inside the burrow you removed your hand as fast as  possible as it was sometimes certainly hiding a sleeping snake.

The second man would quickly break its neck and pass it on to the sack holder,
and then its in the bag .

So they worked as fast as they possibly could could , all the time being weary of cars and lights and any strange movement,
They would  all hide on the ground at any sign or movement.

The funny thing was that the bagman actually disappeared from behind the first two at one stage and the others then found him with his leg stuck way down a burrow,
They pulled him out and they then all made it to their scheduled pick up from the mate organised in the getaway car ,
And they then drove away and left the scene of the crime,

Swigging muscat,
On their way home pleased as punch with their efforts.

So they would go to someone’s shed to clean and divide the birds ,
and they don’t actually  pluck  them like a chook you simply skin them instead.

Cooking is best done outside as they are so oily and smell a bit when you cook them .

The taste ,
thats why they are nicknamed Mutton birds, as early sailors thought that they taste like mutton .
Sometimes they actually taste like fish ,
and they are  incredibly oily you definitely need s serviette or five to tackle one.

But if you want to taste them for yourself just call in to the San Remo Co op and buy yourself a pair .

Now to top it all off the other man there told me once he grabbed himself a few mutton birds on the way going to the beach with his wife and their new born baby boy in a carry basket,
he actually hid the birds that he snared and grabbed ,
in the basket underneath his  sleeping son ,
and  blanket

Thats dedication lol

I asked  both of the men just why they stopped this practice over forty years ago ?

And they both gave the same  definitive answer.
The fines got too big and were now way over
$ 100 a bird .

I cant find the current fine for each bird poached in Victoria now but i believe it’s actually astronomical.

On a footnote the week that the chicks leave the nest on Philip Island they actually turn all the lights off ,
on the bridge as It saves so many new chicks from complete disaster in their inaugural marathon journey. 

Nature is  just simply incredible.
In a Shearwaters life .

Cheers xxx
Curlyg.