Well this is very timely as I just had a large white tern, most likely a
Caspian, flying south down our lake towards Amelia County. Barely had time to
get the binos on it, let alone get the camera. This is pretty unusual for this
part of the state (no Powhatan or Amelia County records per eBird). Wind first
thing this morning was out of the SW and it was quite pleasant, then around
10:30 it went around to the SE and became much more humid, now it is back to SW
and has increased to about 10 mph.
Wendy Ealding
VARCOM Secretary
-----Original Message-----
From: Ned Brinkley <23cahow@xxxxxxxxx>
To: VA-BIRD <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Aug 25, 2011 10:22 am
Subject: [Va-bird] Hurricane Irene
Hi all,
With a hurricane approaching, there has been much internet discussion of
ird displacement and safety issues. I thought I'd put in my usual two
ents, based on past experiences with storms that made landfall in, or near,
irginia. The coming storm is forecast to do a great deal of damage to
astern North Carolina, and it's very likely that southeastern Virginia will
xperience high winds and widespread flooding over the weekend. Safety is
he highest priority in birding after the passage of hurricanes, and no one
hould venture out until authorities declare it is safe to do so. Fallen
ower lines, flooded roads, falling trees are all hazards, and tornadoes can
till pop up after the storm's center has passed.
That said, we stand to learn a great deal about the effects of such storms
n birds and their populations by being recording the birds after such
vents. Here are some possibilities for birding strategies after a storm's
assage (and after an area is safe):
1) Inland lakes and reservoirs, especially large ones, harbor seabirds and
horebirds displaced by storms; Virginia has records of frigatebirds, all
hree jaegers, three gadfly petrels, four shearwaters, two storm-petrels,
wo tropical terns, almost all other terns, Sabine's Gull, and two-dozen
horebird species from such settings. And that is only from a handful of
ecorded hurricanes, notably Fran of 1996 and Isabel of 2003. Irene's
orecast track is to the east of these storms', but many things can happen
etween now and Saturday. Even if the storm does pass off the coast of
irginia as forecast now, such spots are still worth checking.
2) River mouths and peninsulas near them can be very productive for
eawatching; there are many interesting records of seabirds seen from such
ocations, including White-faced Storm-Petrel in Virginia.
3) Dredge-spoil areas such as Craney Island can be the site of "storm"
oosts, large assemblages of terns, shorebirds, gulls, and skimmers, with
ll birds resting quietly, bills pointing into the wind. Bridled and Sooty
erns frequently sit with them.
4) Farm fields, especially harvested ones (harvested potato fields are
ptimal), can also be the site of storm roosts, but when wet or flooded,
horebirds are also found in numbers feeding in the muddy areas (or drier
reas in the case of golden-plovers, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Baird's
andpipers, etc.). Even areas that have relatively little rain and wind can
ometimes produce a surprise or two.
5) Open beaches. Although storms that pass east of our coastlines do not
end to produce large numbers of sightings of seabirds, they sometimes do
roduce large numbers of seabirds on beaches, some of them in weakened
ondition, some of them dead. Photographs of such birds are very valuable.
ll such specimens have even more value to science, so they should be
alvaged and preserved (donated to museums). Walking miles of beaches can
roduce dozens of interesting birds. We still know very little about which
axa of Cory's Shearwater and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel visit our waters, for
nstance, so every specimen can provide another piece of the puzzle.
Yesterday, I photographed an adult Masked Booby off northeastern North
arolina, just a few miles from Virginia waters. Our state has no report of
his species, but it seems likely that Irene could displace such a bird a
ew miles northward. Brown Boobies have been noted in recent weeks from
ape May, NJ, to Maine, so that is another bird to look for after the storm.
6) Almost anywhere. Records of odd things like Cave Swallows have popped up
n odd places after recent hurricane landfalls, so looking at every bird
arefully, no matter where you are, seems prudent. In theory, birds
igrating at this time of year could be not just displaced by the storm but
lso "put down" by the storm, that is, stop migration and seek shelter in
he nearest area. Because landfall of the storm may occur in darkness,
grounded" migrants of many sorts should be looked for across a large area
f the American East from Sunday through Tuesday.
The Virginia Avian Records Committee would be very grateful to receive
eports of any storm-blown seabirds. Ideally, reports of these birds should
e accompanied by photographs of the birds, for verification. Because
irding after a storm can be challenging, and because many seabirds are
ifficult to identify even by very experienced seabirders, there is no shame
n recording a bird as "phalarope sp.,", "jaeger sp.", "storm-petrel sp.",
r even "large tubenose" or "shorebird sp.". It can be tempting to put a
ame on a bird seen poorly, but it's best to be conservative.
Let's hope that we avoid extensive damage in Virginia, of course, and that
he storm douses the terrible Dismal Swamp fire (smoke is terrible this
orning) and moves on out to sea.
Ned Brinkley
ape Charles, Va.
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