Rare Westland petrels nesting in the Punakaiki area may be at risk of bird flu, with the entire West Coast exposed to infected migratory seabirds from Australia.New Zealand's first case of H5 bird flu was confirmed on Wednesday when a skua found on Petone Beach at Wellington tested positive. The flu was detected in Western Australia last month, again in a brown skua.The West Coast, which faces the eastern seaboard of Australia and is equivalent in length to the distance between Wellington and Auckland, is home to the Westland petrel, an endangered species native to the region with a total population of 20,000 worldwide.Forest and Bird West Coast chairwoman Suzanne Hills expressed concern for the petrels, which were at risk due to their small breeding location."They are an incredibly vulnerable population because they only breed in one location and that is a very small area just above the Punakaiki River."If they were hurt and it spread in that breeding location, that is potentially very concerning."The colony has about 4000 breeding pairs annually, although not all of them breed every year and the ones that do lay only one egg."It takes them at least seven years before they start breeding, sometimes even later. They have one chick every year because it takes so many resources to get their egg and raise that chick," Hills said."They are a long-lived bird ... so they will only breed if they are in good condition."She said the petrels needed help, especially since the chicks were hatching at this time of the year.West Coast zoologist Dr Sunkita Howard, who also helps run tours to the petrel colony at Punakaiki, said they were not facing imminent risk."It is certainly a concern that the whole world's population is just in this one place, all quite close together at the moment."She had asked the Department of Conservation (DOC) for advice on best practices to prevent the spread of the flu and has suspended tours to the petrel colony in the meantime.West Coast Penguins Trust manager Inger Perkins is likewise concerned about the risk posed to penguins found along the West Coast - little blues (kororā) in the north and tawaki (Fiordland crested) in the south.Bird flu posed a risk to the larger colonies of penguins on the West Coast as they congregated, Perkins said."We have got some larger colonies across the coast in a few places and then we have got the Fiordland crested penguins in South Westland," she said."After about three weeks or so of being fed at a nest, they [the penguin chicks] then congregate in a creche, so they are gathering in a much tighter grouping and it is that tighter grouping of birds that - if that disease arrives from somewhere - then they are more at risk because it can be catastrophic."Although the penguins cannot be protected from bird flu, the West Coast Penguin Trust's rangers and volunteers were as "prepared as we can be" in terms of sanitising and knowing what to look for, Perkins said.She advised against contact with any sick or dead bird, adding that being informed was the most important step people could take.DOC South Island regional director Owen Kilgour has previously said that although bird flu could not be prevented from reaching New Zealand, the department had developed a response plan with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI).Water-borne birds would be most at risk of catching it, Kilgour said.Minister of Biosecurity Andrew Hoggard said the bird flu situation was being monitored but at this stage there was no evidence of any illness beyond the infected seabird."MPI, the Department of Conservation, the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand have been working together with industry and local councils to get ready," he said in a statement on Wednesday."Our response is designed to manage the risks of H5 bird flu, to protect poultry production and reduce impacts on wildlife and communities."LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.