Last flight taken

Department of Conservation marine ranger Jim Fyfe prepares to move an adult southern royal albatross found dead on the beach at St Kilda, Dunedin.

Mr Fyfe said because the bird, which probably came from the subantarctic islands, washed on to the beach in a decomposed state, it was hard to say what had caused its death. A necropsy would be done to see if a cause could be found.

It was not from Taiaroa Head, as the birds there were northern royal albatross.

Two or three albatrosses and smaller sea birds washed up on the Otago coast a year, he said.