I am forwarding this from the VA-bird listserv. 
 
 
Good (Safe) Birding to everyone,
 
Frank Marenghi
Annapolis
 
 
 
Subject: Hurricane Irene
From: Ned Brinkley <23cahow AT gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:22:04 -0400
Hi all,

With a hurricane approaching, there has been much internet discussion of
bird displacement and safety issues.  I thought I'd put in my usual two
cents, based on past experiences with storms that made landfall in, or near,
Virginia. The coming storm is forecast to do a great deal of damage to
eastern North Carolina, and it's very likely that southeastern Virginia will
experience high winds and widespread flooding over the weekend. Safety is
the highest priority in birding after the passage of hurricanes, and no one
should venture out until authorities declare it is safe to do so. Fallen
power lines, flooded roads, falling trees are all hazards, and tornadoes can
still pop up after the storm's center has passed.

That said, we stand to learn a great deal about the effects of such storms
on birds and their populations by being recording the birds after such
events.  Here are some possibilities for birding strategies after a storm's
passage (and after an area is safe):

1) Inland lakes and reservoirs, especially large ones, harbor seabirds and
shorebirds displaced by storms; Virginia has records of frigatebirds, all
three jaegers, three gadfly petrels, four shearwaters, two storm-petrels,
two tropical terns, almost all other terns, Sabine's Gull, and two-dozen
shorebird species from such settings. And that is only from a handful of
recorded hurricanes, notably Fran of 1996 and Isabel of 2003. Irene's
forecast track is to the east of these storms', but many things can happen
between now and Saturday. Even if the storm does pass off the coast of
Virginia as forecast now, such spots are still worth checking.

2) River mouths and peninsulas near them can be very productive for
seawatching; there are many interesting records of seabirds seen from such
locations, including White-faced Storm-Petrel in Virginia.

3) Dredge-spoil areas such as Craney Island can be the site of "storm"
roosts, large assemblages of terns, shorebirds, gulls, and skimmers, with
all birds resting quietly, bills pointing into the wind. Bridled and Sooty
Terns frequently sit with them.

4) Farm fields, especially harvested ones (harvested potato fields are
optimal), can also be the site of storm roosts, but when wet or flooded,
shorebirds are also found in numbers feeding in the muddy areas (or drier
areas in the case of golden-plovers, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Baird's
Sandpipers, etc.). Even areas that have relatively little rain and wind can
sometimes produce a surprise or two.

5) Open beaches.  Although storms that pass east of our coastlines do not
tend to produce large numbers of sightings of seabirds, they sometimes do
produce large numbers of seabirds on beaches, some of them in weakened
condition, some of them dead.  Photographs of such birds are very valuable.
All such specimens have even more value to science, so they should be
salvaged and preserved (donated to museums).  Walking miles of beaches can
produce dozens of interesting birds.  We still know very little about which
taxa of Cory's Shearwater and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel visit our waters, for
instance, so every specimen can provide another piece of the puzzle.
 Yesterday, I photographed an adult Masked Booby off northeastern North
Carolina, just a few miles from Virginia waters.  Our state has no report of
this species, but it seems likely that Irene could displace such a bird a
few miles northward.  Brown Boobies have been noted in recent weeks from
Cape 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
in odd places after recent hurricane landfalls, so looking at every bird
carefully, no matter where you are, seems prudent. In theory, birds
migrating at this time of year could be not just displaced by the storm but
also "put down" by the storm, that is, stop migration and seek shelter in
the nearest area.  Because landfall of the storm may occur in darkness,
"grounded" migrants of many sorts should be looked for across a large area
of the American East from Sunday through Tuesday.

The Virginia Avian Records Committee would be very grateful to receive
reports of any storm-blown seabirds. Ideally, reports of these birds should
be accompanied by photographs of the birds, for verification.  Because
birding after a storm can be challenging, and because many seabirds are
difficult to identify even by very experienced seabirders, there is no shame
in recording a bird as "phalarope sp.,", "jaeger sp.", "storm-petrel sp.",
or even "large tubenose" or "shorebird sp.".  It can be tempting to put a
name 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
the storm douses the terrible Dismal Swamp fire (smoke is terrible this
morning) and moves on out to sea.

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Va.
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