HURRICANE FLORENCE - ITS IMPACT ON BIRDS

Due for monitoring - godwits, such as this bartail

 WHAT impact has this month’s Hurricane Florence had on birds?

The Audubon Society (the American equivalent of the RSPB) has been monitoring developments - not least because it has staff and bird reserves in South and North Carolina, the states worst affected.

In a statement this week, it says: “Shorebird and seabird migration is in full swing, and we will be monitoring local birds for any negative effects of the storm.

“Species include whimbrel a variety of godwits and sandpipers, piping and semipalmated plovers plus least, royal, gull-billed, common, and Forster’s terns

“Almost all 2018 nestlings have fledged, and we know that birds are very good at riding out - or flying away from - bad weather.

“As of last week, only one brown pelican colony in North Carolina still had unfledged chicks, but chances are good that these chicks will survive so long as they do not get separated from their parents.”

Staff and society premises escaped the worst of Florence, but there has been damage which will be assessed in due course.

The statement continues

• After the storm passes, as soon as it is safe to do so, Audubon staff will be surveying the damage.
• Storm surge, winds, waves, and floodwaters can deposit debris and trash onto delicate ecosystems.
• Floodwaters might wash pollutants from a variety of industries into local waterways and the surrounding habitats.
• Storm surges can erode natural barriers between freshwater and saltwater habitats. We expect to see some saltwater incursion into the freshwater marshes behind some barrier islands, disrupting those habitats. We do not know to what extent that will occur and will assess the situation once the storm has passed.
• Conversely, those same storm surges can drop needed sand onto barrier islands, helping build them up. We will be monitoring places like Pine Island Sanctuary in North Carolina, and Crab Bank Island in South Carolina, for storm-related changes.

On a plus note, the statement notes that storm surge overwash brings nutrients into the brackish back-bay habitats where shorebirds and wading birds forage.

"As a result, they might have more food to fuel their migrations southward."