Muttonbird

Muttonbirds (also spelled mutton-birds or mutton birds) are seabirds – particularly certain large shearwaters – whose young are collected for food and other uses before they fledge (see also Muttonbirding).

The species most frequently called muttonbirds are:

• Short-tailed shearwater, nesting in south-eastern Australia, particularly in the Furneaux Group of islands in eastern Bass Strait
• Sooty shearwater, nesting mainly in New Zealand and islands in the South Atlantic Ocean
• Wedge-tailed shearwater, nesting throughout the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans

The term has been applied to several islands where muttonbirds breed and are, or were, harvested:

• Mutton Bird Island, Tasmania, Australia
  • South East Mutton Bird Islet
  • South West Mutton Bird Islet
• Titi/Muttonbird Islands, New Zealand

Other uses include:

• The Mutton Birds, band from New Zealand
  • The Mutton Birds (album)

In local Maori dialect, the bird is known as the "tītī" (less commonly spelled "tiitii")