Everyone thinking about looking for hurricane birds near the coast should read this blog entry.  Jeff Masters is the founder of the Weather Underground and a hurricane scientist.  He lays out what could happen with with various scenarios if Irene takes one track or another.  It is sobering reading.  

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1899


He says in part "The region I am most concerned 
about, though, is the stretch of coast running from southern Maryland to Central New Jersey, including Delaware and the cities of Ocean City and Atlantic City. A Category 1 hurricane can bring a storm surge of 5 - 9 
feet here. Irene's large size, slow movement, and arrival at the highest tide of the month could easily bring a surge one Category higher than 
the storm's winds might suggest, resulting in a Category 2 type 
inundation along the coast, near 10 - 15 feet.  This portion of the coast has no 
hurricane experience, and loss of life could be heavy if evacuation 
orders are not heeded. I give a 30% chance that the storm surge from 
Irene will bring water depths in excess of 10 feet to the coasts of 
Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey."

The exact track and strength of the storm will be critical to what happens here, to our south in Virginia, and to our north.  

Good birding,

Rob Hilton
Silver Spring, MD

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