Tired birds catch a ride on a cruise ship

Exhausted sea birds such as petrels and albatrosses are using cruise ships to rest their weary wings hundreds of miles out to sea as they migrate between Australasia and the Americas

Guests on the Pacific Dawn cruise vessel had an albatross literally crash their lunchtime barbecue and the problem is becoming so common the ship's environmental officer, Robin Cooke, installed a shelter on the top deck for the resting birds.

Now at least one bird a week stays the night.

"They are usually so tired you can walk up and pick them up," Cooke said. "They just stay one night and by first light they are gone."

As an example of the birds' mammoth undertaking, the distance from Sydney to San Francisco 7,416 miles (11,935km) -- and, apart from ships, Pacific islands are the only other potential resting spots.

Paul Andrews, curator of Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia said it was most likely pelagic birds were disorientated as well as exhausted when they dropped in.

"Sea birds can be attracted to lights and sometimes they will fly down and bump into the ship," Andrews said.

"They'll spend the night because they are a little bit concussed. They might also have been caught in a fairly bad stretch of weather and need a rest. There's not much out there for them."