VA-Birders:
The following birding guidelines were written by Ned Brinkley seven years ago
when he lived at Charlottesville, VA. We send this messages at the
beginning of each hurricane landfall coverage event. Anyone with
corrections or additions feel free to update as you see fit.
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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FORWARD-------------------------------------
GUIDELINES FOR BIRDING, AND NOT BIRDING, IN TROPICAL CYCLONES
1) When the storm is still more than 24 hours from AFFECTING your area OR the
area you possibly intend to COVER following the storm, it is enough to keep
aware of the storm's projected track and position every few hours. You will
be best able to do this by watching the Weather Channel, listening to a NOAA
Weather Radio station (not all areas served, but most coastal areas can pick
up 1-2 stations), or by downloading information on one of the several
internet sites discussed on this list group in the past.
2) When the storm is closer than 24 hours (and/or, to set an arbitrary
standard, your local coastal winds have picked up to more than 30 mph
sustained as a direct result of the storm's advance), your monitoring should
be more frequent, both for the purposes of monitoring possible fall-out of
seabirds and other birds AND for the purposes of ensuring your own personal
safety.
3) YOUR SAFETY IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY. Safety is neglected for many reasons
in storms -- "We evacuated last three times, and the storm passed 400 miles
off the coast!", "Well, we've been riding out these storms here for five
generations; we know how to handle em..", "I'm really fascinated by storms,
and I just want to see what it's like inside one -- you know, like they did
in the hotel in the Gulf War."
With all the advance warning time, death by hurricane in the United States
should, in most cases, be a matter of choice, not "tragedy." If the
authorities say evacuate, then do so. Period. A direct hit by a Category 4
or 5 storm would likely flood most of the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, an
area of over a million people, and there is almost no way the area could be
evacuated in less than three days with available evacuation routes. So there
is a real problem with heavily populated areas on the coast -- even moreso in
the areas to the north of Virginia -- as most people have dodged many bullets
in the past, in the form of storms forecast to hit that never did, and have
become rather lax about storm preparation. But what the masses do at the
last minute and what you (and family and pets, etc.) do during a storm's
approach do not have to be the identical. If you have a serious storm
projected to make landfall in your area, especially if that is near the
coast, then ABIDE BY THE BEST ADVICE OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND GO INLAND.
Is it worth your life to see a blurry streak going by in heavy rain that
looked like it may have been a Sooty or Bridled Tern?
3) Most people on this net, and most people in the eastern United States,
would not be confronted with a direct coastal hit but rather a storm passing
inland and usually deteriorating. But recall Hazel, 1954, a Category 4/5,
which passed inland and had sustained winds over 100 mph in Richmond VA all
the way up to Richmond ONTARIO. There will be more storms like that one. IF
IN DOUBT ABOUT THE DANGERS OF THE STORM IN YOUR AREA INLAND, CONSULT
AUTHORITIES. Most will tell you to stay inside during a storm and to stock
up well ahead of time on nonperishable groceries, batteries, candles, and the
like. You may wish to buy a generator if you want to stay on-line during
frequent power-losses -- or if your family likes to watch videos, etc.
4) It is not possible to find birds during the passage of a storm's rainy
outer edges in most cases, so there is no point in standing out in heavy rain
and high winds in any case. It can be difficult to stand up in winds over 45
knots, and torrential rains are just miserable. It is possible to bird in
the eye, as Derb Carter found in DIANA (in 1984, I think), when he had many
interesting pelagic species on an inland lake in North Carolina, some of
which remained for the following day, but most of which departed as the
southern edge of the eyewall passed over the north edge of the lake on which
he was standing. This was not as powerful a storm as many, but if one wishes
to bird the eye of a storm, ONE IS PUTTING ONESELF AT RISK OF ENCOUNTERING
FLASH FLOODS SEVERE ENOUGH TO WASH ONE'S VEHICLE AWAY, ELECTROCUTION BY
DOWNED POWERLINES, FALLING TREES AND TELEPHONE POLES, FLYING OBJECTS OF EVERY
DESCRIPTION, AND DRIVING CONDITIONS OF THE WORST IMAGINABLE KIND, ENOUGH TO
MAKE ACCIDENTS INEVITABLE. Use your best judgment during these storms.
Recall the images from Andrew and Hugo -- enormous boats tossed around like
leaves, whole neighborhoods and forests that looked like spilled boxes of
toothpicks after the storms' passage. The human body cannot withstand
bombardment with the equivalent of wooden shrapnel, as some Florida residents
found. IF IN DOUBT, STAY INSIDE.
5) Immediately following the storm is the best time to be afield in any case.
RESPECT ALL BEACH CLOSINGS AND ALL AUTHORITIES' DECISIONS. To do otherwise
causes nothing but frustration. When travelling, be cautious about water in
the roadways, downed electrical wires, people and animals (and foreign
objects) in the roadways, weakened roadways (supporting banks and the like
washed out) and bridges. Try not to travel during downpours; pull off to the
side or under an overpass and wait out the last of the feeder bands' rain.
Keep hazard lights blinking whenever you think it might help other motorists
to see you.
6) With all this safety material in mind (most of it is common sense now that
forecasting is so advanced), where you bird is a matter of personal calculus.
Large inland lakes are obviously places where many seabirds choose to drop
out of the eye. Most terns do not stay long -- a few hours at most --
whereas tubenoses may remain longer. Very little information exists for
storm-driven seabirds in large coastal sounds of the southeast, but in
October 1971, Ginger pushed two White-faced and eleven Leach's Storm-Petrels
inside Oregon Inlet, NC, together, as seen from the Bonner Bridge. These
areas are worth checking. Likewise, the coast is worth checking following
the inland passage of a storm, as Paul McQuarry found at Back Bay following
Hugo's passage -- he had large numbers of jaegers, tropical terns, and
shearwaters. Areas to the east and northeast of the eye's path of passage
appear to be the most productive, but the White-tailed Tropicbird in
Staunton, VA, was well west of the eye's passage through the Virginia
Piedmont, so there is no reason not to check these areas thoroughly as well.
The coast is also worth monitoring (bring a weather radio, food and drink,
and a scope) if winds are easterly BEFORE the passage of a storm, although
the little bit of information available suggests that this period is less
productive for numbers of birds than the period following the storm's
passage.
Ned Brinkley
Charlottesville, VA
(former address)
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