Pets & Animals

Storms Stir Birder Interest In Gulf Migration

FORT MORGAN, Ala. (AP) ―

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As millions of migratory birds head out over the Gulf of Mexico for winter in warmer climates, some have apparently been knocked off track by hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Veteran birdwatcher John Porter at Dauphin Island said this season's hurricanes brought in a few unexpected exotic species. The sight of flamingos -- one in Pass Christian, Miss., and another at Opal Beach at Navarre, Fla. -- caused a stir among birdwatchers swapping e-mails about post-storm sightings, he said.

Botanist Howard Horne of Mobile said he believes the flamingos, possibly swept in from Cuba, were the first in this area since one was spotted in the Florida Panhandle in 1998 after Hurricane Georges.

Bird experts say many pelagic species that live offshore -- like jaegers, shearwaters, petrels and others -- get "trapped" in the eye of a storm and are carried well inland to unfamiliar habitats. Naturally, they turn around and head back to the coast, according to birdwatcher Jim Stevenson of Galveston Island in Texas.

Stevenson, in an e-mail, said these birds often fly along the coastline after the storm has passed, giving birders a chance to see species near land that are not normally spotted there.

More than two-thirds of all the birds that breed in the United States and Canada migrate for winter to tropical areas in Mexico, Central and South America, and the islands of the Caribbean.

A chance to watch the migration and possibly spot a rare species draws scores of birdwatchers to the Alabama coastline in October, particularly Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island, internationally known birding sites.

University of Southern Mississippi biology professor Frank Moore and his students for the last 18 years have monitored some of those flights, trapping and releasing birds to study what equips them for such long journeys. The birds burn lots of energy during the flights, taking breaks on oil platforms or ships at sea, but they also must endure loss of habitat, storms and predators such as hawks.

Moore is to discuss his research in Fairhope at the Alabama Coastal BirdFest Oct. 16-19, an event that draws 300-500 birdwatchers on average, some walking the sandy dunes with binoculars in hand and viewing from boats, according to organizers. In the past, they have come from 17 states and Canada.

Some will be able to watch the banding of tiny ruby-throated hummingbirds. Moore and his students, operating nets at a Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge site on Fort Morgan peninsula, have captured about 3,500 birds per season since 1990, including 132 species.

Gustav and Ike may have blown some unexpected species into the northern Gulf this year, Moore said in a telephone interview. Because of the size of hurricanes, he said, the storms bring well inland or to the coast birds you might never have seen before.

"You never know what you might see," said marine biologist Roger Clay at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in Spanish Fort, who is helping with the event.

Linda B. Reynolds, president of the 400-member Alabama Ornithological Society, lives in Guntersville in north Alabama and has a home at Dauphin Island. A former naturalist for Guntersville State Park, Reynolds has been a BirdFest guide every year since it started five years ago.

She said some rare birds spotted at past BirdFests on the sandy shores and estuaries around the mouth of Mobile Bay include the black-whiskered vireo, frigate, black-billed cuckoo, painted bunting and a sooty tern.

Reynolds said anytime there's a disturbance in the Gulf, the birds don't always get to where they want to go.

"We've had some unusual things over the years," she said. That includes sightings in north Alabama, too.

She said some black-headed Laughing Gulls, abundant on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, have been spotted on Lake Guntersville.

"They're supposed to be at Dauphin Island," she said.

An Inca dove was spotted on the Alabama coast in last year's spring migration, she said.

"It probably came up from Texas," she said. "Roseate spoonbills can come in from Texas. They have this funny looking beak that looks like a shoe spoon. They're Mary Kay pink in color."