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Birding Brevard: Where Did the Birds Go When Fay Hit?

By Dave Freeland

If you had a driveway (or a living room) full of water after Tropical Storm Fay roared through in August, you may not want to read further. You have more than enough problems dealing with storm water to wonder what happens to birds when a tropical storm or hurricane hits. But, of course, every living creature has to deal with the immediate or after effects of a major storm, including our birds. Throughout history, birds have dealt with natural disasters in ways we need not to. They have survived torrential rains and floods, fires, blizzards and high winds. Sometimes some of them have not survived.

Birds that can fly, as Florida's species all can, have a distinct advantage over other members of the animal kingdom not blessed with wings. But just being able to fly does not make escape from a tropical storm a routine event. T.S. Fay and her subsequent companion storms cover a broad area, and birds do not have the luxury of watching Channel 6 or reading the Orlando Sentinel to study escape routes.

So where do the birds go? What do they do to avoid weather problems? There's no easy answer to these questions, but since birds are with us after the storm subsides, obviously they have found ways to escape disaster. Most birds simply hunker down in a safe, secure environment to let the trouble pass. We birders are a little crazier than most people and are tempted to go out there into the teeth of the gale to look for rarities that the winds may have brought our way. If you were so inclined during Fay's passage, you'd have found birds in places where you might expect them.

I went to Patrick Air Force Base south of Cocoa Beach and watched for seabirds to pass. Although some birds did fly by, most were hunkered down on the upper reaches of the beach itself -- lots of Brown Pelicans, Forster's, Royal and Sandwich Terns, 8 Brown Noddies and a Sooty Tern, the latter two species not usually expected in Brevard County as they breed in the Dry Tortugas and Caribbean area. A couple of Whimbrels flew by in a northerly direction, more or less with the wind though migration for them would have been toward the South.

Laughing Gulls were everywhere, but mostly on the sand. Getting out of the way for them meant getting down low, avoiding the high winds and letting the blowing sand hit them in the rear instead of their face. Landbirds simply filled up the bushes and lower branches of trees to escape the winds. No problem finding water when the storm passed (as our driveways, streets and living rooms know all too well!). I guess they found food supplies, but there was little eating during the storm itself. Seeking shelter form the elements was first priority. Of a bird's three critical needs -- food, water and shelter from predators -- only food was a post-Fay priority. The predators were also escaping Fay's wrath and, as we all know, water was everywhere.

Where to Go: October is in the midst of migration for landbirds. So seeking a good spot for finding warblers, thrushes and the like is a good idea. Try your own neighborhood and see what the trees and bushes nearby bring your way.

Bird of the Month: The Brown Noddies brought our way by T.S. Fay were a real treat for many birders. Some were seen at various ocean points, including Port Canaveral and Sebastian Inlet.