An adult Arctic Tern is sitting with 4 Royal, 11 Sandwich, 12 Common, 1
Least, and 21 Forster's Terns on Cape Charles Beach presently. This is
probably the nucleus of what will be a larger storm roost that will form
here during the easterlies today. Winds are still in the 30s, gusting to
the low 40s, with bands of rain passing through, sometimes heavy. Landfall
of the eye of Irene just occurred a few minutes ago around Cape Lookout, so
we are some hours from the most intense wind and rain.
It is interesting to watch the formation of these storm roosts. Terns are
coming off the Bay at all heights (from just above the surf to very high,
where they can only be heard calling but not seen), mostly from the
southwest, and they are often engaged in what seems to be foraging, but I
have not seen any of them capture a fish. The behavior seems almost to be a
nervous reaction to the irregular wind speeds/patterns, but that's just a
guess. Many of the terns (Sandwich and Common) are checking out the beach
roost and passing it by, and some of these are passing off to the north of
town, while others are angling in along Jefferson Avenue, then doing the
pseudo-foraging behavior over Crystal Lake, adjacent to which a new storm
roost is forming in vacant lots of Marina Villages (3 Laughing Gulls, 28
Forster's Terns, 1 Least Tern juv., 17 Common Terns, 1 Royal Tern, 2
Sandwich Terns). One hummingbird zipping along to the northeast, and one
Eastern Kingbird. This site typically has storm roosts of terns and often
gulls (including Lesser Black-backed) during passage of tropical storms
here. Common Terns are very common to our south, nearer the mouth of the
Bay, but we do not see them within town unless there is a storm; Lesser
Black-backeds are very unusual in town, and I have seen them only during
extreme-weather events here. These roosting birds sometimes linger after
storms, but I don't expect any of these birds to be present here Sunday, as
the storm will be far to the north by then and weather should be mild,
though winds could be brisk in the earliest hours. If conditions permit, I
will check these flocks later for skimmers, Black, Sooty, Roseate, and
Bridled Terns, as we have noted in town during past storms. We have no town
record of Brown Noddy; one has been reported in South Carolina already,
along with Sooty Tern.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Va.
