Tropicbird discovered in Connecticut!

This White-tailed Tropicbird was discovered exhausted on a road in northwest Connecticut during Hurricane Irene, 50 miles from the nearest salt water....

Go to Greg Hanisek's site for the full fascinating story (and thank you for the photo Greg!)....  Talking Nature with Greg Hanisek » Irene’s Biggest Present

And please enter your Hurricane Irene birds into eBird (and to ARCC or your local state ARC Avian Records Committee).  The eBird team has identified these as the most important species they would like entered into eBird, please.....

TOP PRIORITY:

Tropicbirds

SOTE  Sooty Tern

BRTE  Bridled Tern

GBTE  Gull-billed Tern

SATE  Sandwich Tern

LHSP  Leach's Storm-petrel

BSTP  Band-rumped Storm-petrel

HUGO  Hudsonian Godwit

jaegers

pelicans

Second priority:

BLTE [definitely elevated numbers]  Black Tern

RNPH  Red-necked Phalarope

REPH  Red Phalarope

inland shorebirds incl. Whimbrel, BB Plover etc.

inland COTE  Common Tern

CATE  Caspian Tern

ROYT  Royal Tern

Leach's Storm-petrels many miles inland

Here is just one example of the unusual situations created by Hurricane Irene.... a Leach's Storm-petrel fighting the wind over Bantam Lake, CT forty miles inland from the nearest salt water....

Leach's Storm-Petrel on Bantam Lake, CT August 28, 2011.  This photo thanks to Fran Zygmont 

Notice that this nice photograph captures so many of the field marks:  the long angled wings, the slightly forked tail, the feet not projecting beyond tail, the pale bar on the upper wing reaching the leading edge of the wing, and the somewhat divided white rump patch.

Remember that (unlike Wilson's Storm-petrels) this is a very wary open ocean bird which is often hard to attract close to a boat, even 100 miles out on the ocean, and yet here it is on an inland fresh water lake!

And here is a recent map of the Leach's Storm-petrel distribution from eBird....note the paucity of reports from Connecticut, prior to August 28th.....

Thanks to Fran Zygmont for this photograph of this oceanic species far from its normal ocean travels, and for entering this field report into eBird this week (which will soon be reflected as a new little pink rectangle in west central Connecticut)!

the NEXT hurricane(s)

===================

Thomas Robben to ctbirds....       Sep 12

Did you think we were done with hurricanes for the year???

Thanks to all storm-birders for submitting your Irene-bird-reports to BOTH eBird AND your state ARC avian records committee. Thanks for the direct email discussions with most of you CT storm-birders this week.
If you have not done that dual data entry, please do it within the next week or so;  or contact me or Marshall Iliff for assistance doing it.

Our "one-week" hurricane blog (intended to do "real-time" Florida-to-Newfoundland bird reporting DURING the peak of the hurricane, by monitoring all those listservs) was, ironically, knocked down by the storm for 102 hours during the the "best" days of August 28- Sept 1 ....and we have decided NOT to do a detailed catch-up reconstruction of those 102 hours (partly because most of those reports have already "rolled-off" their state bird-listservs [such as CTBirds] into archives, or some into oblivion).

Instead we are....
1)  assembling SUMMARIES of the Hurricane Irene birds at the hurricane blog,

2)  highlighting some of the more interesting sightings, such as Fran Zygmont's INLAND Leach's Storm-Petrel photo...
http://hurricaneirene2011.blogspot.com/
Hurricane Irene 2011 (and its birds)

3)  learning what we can from this hurricane and this experimental blog, including the best safe LOCATIONS for watching the next storms (thanks to Nick Bonomo and many others),

4)  and looking toward the NEXT HURRICANE by studying this evolving hourly weather map every few days....
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents
Post-Tropical Cyclone MARIA

Thank You and Good Birding,
Tom Robben
http://hurricaneirene2011.blogspot.com/
Hurricane Irene 2011 (and its birds)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Robben <robben99@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 12:11 AM
Subject: Fwd: Hurricane Irene redux on eBird
To: JerseyBirds@princeton.edu
Cc: Marshall Iliff <miliff@aol.com>, Thomas Robben <robben99@gmail.com>

We have just witnessed an incredible hurricane, with historic bird consequences.  We need everybody's help to capture their observations into eBird, as Marshall Iliff describes below....
There is a lot to be learned from a panoramic Florida-to-Maine-&-the-Maritmes view of what this hurricane did, so please enter your field observations into eBird as soon as possible, within a week or so.
(And additionally do not forget to report to your state avian records committee if your bird is that level of rarity.)
There is really quite an amazing story here, so lets try to document all of it, please.
Tom Robben

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marshall Iliff <miliff@aol.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 5:30 PM
Subject: Fwd: Hurricane Irene redux on eBird
To: nbonomo@gmail.com, birdfreak007@yahoo.com, Steve Mirick <smirick@comcast.net>, tbj4@cornell.edu, pollypie@att.net, Thomas Robben <robben99@gmail.com>, Andy Farnsworth <af27@cornell.edu>, Bill Hubick <bill_hubick@yahoo.com>, Ned Brinkley <ensifera@aol.com>, Nathan Dias <dias@crbo.net>, spencer hardy <curlewsandpiper17@gmail.com>

Would welcome cross-posts on this...we really have an opportunity to have all the storm watches in eBird if we act now...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marshall Iliff <miliff@aol.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 5:27 PM
Subject: Hurricane Irene redux on eBird
To: Massbird <massbird@theworld.com>, bostonbirds@googlegroups.com

Massbird,

With news still coming in for reports from Hurricane Irene, I have posted a tentative summary of some of the news with visualizations from eBird etc. See the story here:

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/hurricane-irene-redux
Hurricane Irene redux — eBird

We already have a couple hundred Sooty Tern sightings in eBird but there are many more that we still need to get in the system. Only about half of the tropicbirds are in, so the Delaware, upstate New York, New Hampshire, and one of the New York City sightings still need to be entered. Many Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts finds are yet to be entered as well, and it would be great to be able to see a full picture for any species within the next week or so. So again, please encourage your friends who got out storm birding to help us compile all the sightings in one place.

We are very interested in using eBird to gain a better understanding of this storm, so we invite all birders who got out seeking storm-blown seabirds to please please PLEASE submit those sightings to eBird (whether or not you connected with anyrarities--the negative data is helpful too). We hope to be able to produce an animated summary of Sooty Tern sightings, showing the progression of the storm and where and when sooty Terns appeared. If we can get this together quick enough (it will depend on New England birders making sure all Sooty Tern sightings have been entered with correct times), then maybe the visualization will help us all make better storm birding plans for Hurricane Katia http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/024712.shtml?5-daynl.
Post-Tropical Cyclone KATIA

Thanks, and if anyone has questions about how to get their storm birding list into eBird, please get in touch with me directly.

Best,

Marshall Iliff

****************************
Marshall J. Iliff
miliff AT aol.com
West Roxbury, MA
****************************
eBird/AKN Project Leader
www.ebird.org
www.avianknowledge.net
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ithaca, NY
****************************

===================

Please enter all your storm bird reports into eBird

Today is September 10th....
The goal is to get all the storm bird reports into eBird as soon as possible.  The purpose of our worksheet here is simply to make sure all reports get entered into eBird,  for Connecticut (CT).....

Click here to view the worksheet of the main hurricane birds reported on the CTbirds listserv August 28-30....
WORKSHEET for Irene Birds for CT, for Aug 28-30

The data in this worksheet is currently being reviewed, adjusted, completed, etc..
Note that all data in this worksheet, including email addresses, was taken from the public CTbirds listserv.

Please enter all your hurricane bird reports into eBird, and send me an email (robben99@gmail.com) so I can indicate that in the eBird status column of this worksheet.  Please also let me know if this worksheet is missing anything important.

Here is a snapshot image showing what part of this worksheet looked like on 9/10, in its latest form....

You can click on this image (and then stretch your computer's window) to enlarge it.....

Here are the most important hurricane birds to enter into eBird.....

TOP PRIORITY:

Tropicbirds

SOTE  Sooty Tern

BRTE  Bridled Tern

GBTE  Gull-billed Tern

SATE  Sandwich Tern

LHSP  Leach's Storm-petrel

BSTP  Band-rumped Storm-petrel

HUGO  Hudsonian Godwit

jaegers

pelicans

Second priority:

BLTE [definitely elevated numbers]  Black Tern

RNPH  Red-necked Phalarope

REPH  Red Phalarope

inland shorebirds incl. Whimbrel, BB Plover etc.

inland COTE  Common Tern

CATE  Caspian Tern

ROYT  Royal Tern

Summaries of "Irene's birds"

While I am off researching the listserv archives of all the Atlantic coastal states (to see if my aggregation & reporting process can be automated), several nice summaries of probable Hurricane Irene birds have been published, including...
1) the NEW YORK summary copied in this blog (Hurricane Irene 2011 (and its birds): New York State summary of Hurricane Irene birds),
2) Marshall Iliff's comprehensive EAST COAST summary (Hurricane Irene 2011 (and its birds): Summary of Hurricane Irene's Birds), and now a
3) CONNECTICUT summary by James Purcell, using the CTbirds posts.... Thank you James!....

=================
"Subject: Hurricane Irene birds
From: eyeflight16 AT optonline.net
Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:47:53 +0000 (GMT)
I was bored this morning so I thought I would put together a list of all the
species and numbers of birds that we got from Hurricane Irene. I must say that
the list is quite impressive. However, do keep in mind this list isn't entirely
accurate. First of all, I only used reports from CT birds so I could be missing
some birds, and I apologize to anyone if I missed your birds. Second, although
I tried as hard as possible to avoid this, there could be some repeats of birds
seen here. (Example: a Sooty Tern seen at Griswold Point flying west could be
the same Sooty Tern seen flying west at Stratford Point), but I tried to use
logic to get rid of these repeated birds. Also, I know that all of these birds
may not have actually been blown in by the hurricane, such as the Lark Sparrow.
Nonetheless, here are all the rarities from this past week.�

1 White Ibis
89 Black Terns
66 Sooty Terns
1 Long-tailed Jaeger
2 Band-rumped Storm-Petrels
189 Red-necked Phalaropes
5 Leach's Storm-Petrels
11 Royal Terns
8 Caspian Terns
7 Wilson's Storm-Petrels
3 Red Phalaropes
1 Black-necked Stilt
6 Hudsonian Godwits
3 Brown Pelicans
1 Bridled Tern
4 Marbled Godwits
3 Parasitic Jaegers
1 Long-billed Dowitcher
1 Great Shearwater
1 Manx Shearwater
1 American Avocet
1 American White Pelican
1 Gull-billed Tern
1 Lark Sparrow

Wow! What a week for CT birding!�

James Purcell
Fairfield"
=================

Copying the archived hurricane bird reports from each state

Since this blog lost its primary goal to be a real-time communications tool DURING the middle of Hurricane Irene (because we lost electricity Sunday morning)  a revised goal for this blog will be to assemble all the Hurricane Irene bird-list field reports together here, for convenience and to prevent any of them from being lost, across all or most of the states Irene touched.

Unless anybody has any objection, several long pages in this blog will copy the exact archived bird list posts covering the Hurricane Irene week, from about 8/26 through 9/2.
The CTbirds archives are the first being experimented with, and you can easily see their work-in-progress by clicking on these links (they are simply long posts in this blog, and artificially stored under the date of 8/22)....

Hurricane Irene 2011 (and its birds): Experimenting with the full text from CT birds list from 8/22-8/28
this long page covers 8/22 through 8/28

Hurricane Irene 2011 (and its birds): Experimenting with the full text from CT birds list from 8/29
and this long page covers 8/29 onwards

You can always return to this blog's "home page" by clicking on the name of the blog at the very top of the screen. These long archived sections are so long that they cannot all fit on one screen, so scrolling down is not enough for you to find all the long pages (actually long posts) which will be coming here. You will have to use the TableOfContents on the right side (all listed artificially within August 22) or click on OlderPosts when you see that at the bottom of your scrolling.

Note that yellow and green background colors are being used to high-light different field reports (using two colors makes it easier on the eye to distinguish two close reports). Red will also be used to flag some key species within these reports. This work has just begun, and is currently incomplete. Extraneous posts which are not related to the hurricane will probably be deleted at the end of this process, which will shorten these long pages.

The goal is simply to capture the full text of all the storm posts for convenient review by birders (and perhaps for scientists and others to possibly use in the future to study Hurricane Irene and its birding consequences).  In some sense these posts are the first raw field reports, and have a value of their own, although your bird reports should ALSO be input to at least two other organizations....

1.  eBird
AND
2.  your state avian records committee (if the bird species is that level of rarity)

Suggestions welcomed.
The next step this weekend is to search for the same kinds of archives from the other Atlantic coastal states.

Day #10 How best to "catch-up" this blog?

OK, we got electricity and water back late yesterday (minus an hour outage today).  Now trying to figure out the best way to "catch-up" this blog, so that it might be useful to anybody, especially since the listserv (the bird lists) posts are "rolling-off" their sites, so now we need to look into the archives to see how much we can retrieve of the earlier reported birds. We were originally hoping to avoid this dilemma by limiting this blog to just ONE-WEEK of real-time hurricane bird reporting (ending on 8/31)....unfortunately the loss of electricity and internet service on sunday morning (8/28) stopped that idea. This leaves us with this question... is any kind of AFTER THE FACT summary worth creating here.  TBD.
I guess its time to look into every one of the coastal bird list listservs to confirm which have searchable archives and which do not.
More later tomorrow.

Summary of Hurricane Irene's Birds

Here is an excellent 9/1 summary of the most exciting bird reports "caused by" Hurricane Irene, written by Marshall Iliff in his excellent post on eBirds at...
Hurricane Irene redux — eBird
This is a direct quotation from Marshall....
====================

HURRICANE IRENE'S BIRDS

Hurricane Irene was a fantastic storm for birding for those that could get out safely to a viewpoint where they could watch for seabirds. As is often typical, the birds in these storms were few, but the ones seen were of very high quality.

Please note that this storm has also been very destructive, with unprecedented flooding in upstate New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and unfortunately, some loss of life. Our hearts go out to those negatively impacted by the storm.

Many of the below birds have yet to be entered into eBird, and if your friends saw some of these birds please ask them to get them into eBird so that the maps start to fill out with the full picture of these birds' occurrence!

• White-tailed Tropicbird was the headline bird of Irene. In fact, we had predicted this based on elevated numbers offshore this year, writing: "Summer 2011 has been one of the best tropicbird years ever, so Hurricane Irene could carry a significant tropicbird load". Although there are historical records of birds displaced inland as far north as Vermont, never before has a storm produced double-digit numbers of tropicbirds and never before has a live one been observed on an inland lake in the Northeast. At least seven live birds were seen during the storm on 28 August.

1. One or two adults at Prime Hook, DE, 28 Aug
2. Three adults at Cape May, NJ, 28 Aug; first Cape May County record
3. One adult and one immature off Manhattan, Hudson River, New York, 28 Aug
4. One adult at Quabbin Reservoir, MA, 28 Aug; first Hampshire County record
5. One at Lake Onota, Pittsfield, MA, 28 Aug; first Berkshire County record (possibly a second bird seen the next day)

And since the storm, an additional several birds have been found dead or dying:

1. One found moribund (later died) in Rensselaer County in upstate New York 29 Aug or later
2. One adult found at Rockaway Beach, NY
3. One (presumed white-tailed, ID yet to be confirmed) at East Marion, NY
4. One adult found moribund (later died) in Claremont, NH, on 30 Aug; a first state record

This makes for an unprecedented total of 12+ White-taield Tropicbirds i nthe Northeast in conjunction with this storm!

• Inland Leach's Storm-Petrels were seen at Quabbin Reservoir, MA, as well as coastal birds in a number of places.
• Band-rumped Storm-Petrels were displaced well northward and to the coast, but were not found inland (as they have been occasionally in the past). The most noteworthy were first from-shore records in Massachusetts (First Encounter Beach, 29 Aug, Nantucket and Tuckernuck Islands on 28 Aug) and Connecticut, and others were seen around New York City as well.
• Inland Wilson's Storm-Petrels, very rare in hurricanes, were found at Lake Pontoosuc, Pittsfield, MA, on 28 Aug, and found dead in Northampton, MA, 30 Aug (specimen and photos)
• Brown Pelicans after the storm in Galilee, RI ( photos) and Tuckernuck Island, MA.
• Magnificent Frigatebirds seen in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York.
• Several inland jaegers included a few Parasitics and at least a few Long-tailed Jaegers.
• A cooperative South Polar Skua was reported from a beach on Long Island, NY.
• Widespread Sooty Terns inland and coastally from South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. One in Boston was the farthest north and east. Never before has the spread of Sooty Terns been so quickly and easily explored by other birders, and this all thanks to those that have already entered their reports with good notes so that they can be reviewed and accepted. Notice the spread of records on this map of Aug 2011 Sooty Terns -- you can pretty much see where the eye passed and how Sooty Terns occur out to the outer edges of the storm's wind field.
• Bridled Terns, as expected, were seen in this storm, but only on the coast. We are not aware of any inland Bridled Terns, but birds on the coast or in estuarine bays and harbors were seen in North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Of those states, Bridled Tern is most unusual in Connecticut, the only one lacking pelagic waters (Bridled Tern is rare but regular in deep, warm pelagic waters north to Massachusetts). Compare the map of Bridled Tern occurrences to the Sooty Tern map above, and note how much farther inland Sooties were seen. See the discussion on this topic below.
• Brown Noddy -- One seen from shore around Charleston Harbor on Friday 26 August. There are very few prior records. See Nate Dias's checklist here.
• Lingering southern terns in several states for several days after the storm, including Black Skimmers in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; Royal Terns in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; and Sandwich Terns in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
• Widespread Black Terns in record numbers in many places, such as eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire (see Steve Mirick's list below)
• An unprecedented fallout of Hudsonian Godwits was witnessed, with 193 counted at one site in New Hampshire (see Steve Mirick's list), and other lower numbers at two inland sites in Massachusetts, as well as coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. Most notably, several were seen in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, where the species is extremely rare in fall. Many other shorebirds "fell out" in the storm, likely a result of the large system 'grounding' birds in overland migration, but possibly also displacing some offshore migrants back to shore.

In addition, at least two GREAT landbirds were seen. One or both may have a storm connection, and aerial insectivores are the landbirds most likely to be transported by hurricanes:

• A large swift, now believed to be Black Swift (very likely of the Caribbean population, which may represent a species distinct from western North American ones), was seen and photographed at Cape May. Most agree it was not a EuropeanApus swift (e.g., Common Swift), so whatever it is, it will represent a new record for the East Coast (the nearest Black Swift is from Point Pelee, ON). See Tony Leukering's report.
• A Brown-chested Martin, just about the eighth record for North America, was seen at Cape Charles, VA. See Ned Brinkley's report.

 Here are some great eBird checklists from the storm:

• 26 August, Charleston Harbor, Nate Dias [Brown Noddy]
• 28 August, Cape May Point, Tony Leukering et al.'s hourly checklists include oneand then two White-tailed Tropicbirds (photos), possible Black Swift (photos),Black-capped Petrel, etc.]. See the full account with photos here.
• 28 August, Quabbin Reservoir in western Massachusetts, Marshall Iliff et al. Seetotal list or the epic 16:00-17:00 hourly list [White-tailed Tropicbird, Sooty Tern (photos), Leach's Storm-Petrel, Parasitic Jaeger etc.]
• 28 August, New York. White-tailed Tropicbird ( photos) etc. off Manhattan. SeeSam Stuart's list.
• 28 August, New Hampshire. No southern rarities, but a fallout of Hudsonian Godwits and record-high Black Tern counts, along with some displaced seabirds. See Steve Mirick's list.

There is much more to be learned about the storm and its birds as people continue to organize their checklists and enter them in eBird. If you haven't put yours in yet, please do!

====================
Please report all your storm bird sightings BOTH into eBird AND to your local state birding authority (typically your state avian records committee).  It is very important to submit your reports for this storm. Thank you.

Day #9 One-hundred hours with no electricity, water, etc

It is 5pm Thursday September 1st and still no electricity, water, etc. in our area of central Connecticut.  It has been over 102 hours since we lost electricity, water, etc.  [shortly after this post electricity was restored]

This blog will be catching-up after electricity is restored, but meanwhile enjoy the excellent summaries emerging such as Marshall Iliff's summary on eBird today....
Hurricane Irene redux — eBird

And PLEASE follow Marshall's request for all Hurricane Irene bird reports to be entered in eBird. This will allow outstanding analyses, such as these maps of Sooty and Bridled Terns seen during this multi-day storm....
Explore Data for Sooty Tern map
and
Explore Data for Bridled Tern map

Day #8 and still waiting for electricity, water, etc

It is 6pm Wednesday 8/31 and unfortunately (thanks to Irene) still no electricity, water, etc, but this blog will be catching-up as soon as we have electricity here in central CT. Also working with the eBird team on the best way to collect all possible reports of hurricane-related-birds.  More tomorrow, hopefully.

Lessons Learned from this hurricane/birding experience

If anybody would like to start a discussion of what we have LEARNED as birders/naturalists from this Hurricane Irene experience we will be glad to host that discussion here, starting with anybody's proposed list of lessons-learned.

I will start with the #1 lesson I learned (and it goes beyond birding)... to get an electricity generator in my house, so we are really prepared for the next storm which shuts down our electricity for a day or maybe a week!

The next lesson might be that the "best" birds are reported during (and the hours right after) the teeth of the storm! Or maybe that is too much of a generalization.

Feel free to email me at robben99@gmail.com or leave a comment "below" this post (you probably have to first click on this post so it is the only post visible to you).  This discussion will start slowly, since I will not have much internet access this week, and I cant really get into the discussion until I do have electricity restored.
Thanks,  Tom

Possible uses of blogs like this one

A REAL-TIME TOOL:

The primary objective of this blog was to be used DURING Hurricane Irene,  as a real-time communication tool, FOR JUST ONE WEEK ending on 8/31, to be useful to east coast birders to be more aware of the birding effects/opportunities/locations of Hurricane Irene, DURING Irene's approach and its immediate aftermath. Unfortunately we had a power outage which started at 11am Sunday and continues now 5pm Tuesday, including the crucial hours of Irene's main landfall, so that objective was compromised. 

A HISTORICAL TOOL:

Now that the hurricane is gone, and its effects are evaporating, we will try to use this blog to do a brief historical summary of Irene, but already the storm reports on the various state listservs are "rolling-off", and some of them will be hard to recover. We have just started to take daily snapshots of the main listservs, hoping to use them to assemble a comprehensive picture of all the hurricane birds of the past week.

To see the "rolling-off" problem you can click on some of the older links in this blog, and you will NOT be taken back to those particular reports (even though those links have the exact listserv ID numbers for those reports), but rather to the latest subset of reports on that listserv (because the older ones rolled-off, unfortunately). So these listservs are most useful during their current week (before the reports roll-off), but not as useful after the roll-off of the latest batch of reports (some listservs do archive but some dont). Some of this history is not archived. More thoughts on this next week, but meanwhile we will try to assemble a summary of "Irene's Birds" (assuming electricity returns soon).

Days #5 and #6 this blog down during temporary outage

This blog suffered from an Irene-caused electricity stoppage starting at 11am Sunday August 28th and not restored yet 2pm Monday August 29th.... this post is being made from a public building with internet access.  Our area suffered a loss of electricity, water, cellular telephone voice access, cellular data access AND landline phone access. Our house was very quiet indeed.

This blog will resume when electricity is restored to our area. We are one of 700,000 households in CT which still do not have electricity, for more than 24hours, and with no projected time of restoration. We heard that this is the worst/biggest electricity outage in the history of Connecticut.

This blog will catch-up on (and include) all hurricane birds reported on the listservs in any state along the East Coast, and beyond, plus those reports which have been emailed to me directly at robben99@gmail.com (thank you for those additional direct email reports to me, much appreciated).  

This catch-up will not happen today, although a small start may be made.  Look for this blog to be caught-up within a few days, as/when electricity is restored in Connecticut. When done, within a couple of days after we get electricity, this blog will contain a listing of every hurricane-bird report we could find.

Hopefully this blog and its aggregation of report summaries and links will be useful for anybody who wants to follow-up and do a more thorough/scientific analysis of the bird changes/patterns associated with this hurricane.

Sincere apologies for this temporary outage, especially since it occurred during the most interesting hours right before, during and after Irene's hard landfall in NY and CT!

102 HOURS BLACKOUT BEGAN HERE

102 hour blackout of electricity, water, and internet began around 11am Sunday August 28 during the middle of Hurricane Irene smashing into NY and CT. This blog was crippled for 102 hours from Sunday onwards, and failed to deliver the ONE-WEEK of REAL-TIME reporting planned for. Truly very sorry. [this post was planted retro-actively back to this date and time].

NOTE that most of the links below are "broken" now and point to nothing useful!!!  Because they have "rolled-off" their listserv's landing-pages and into their archives (those that have archives). This is a main reason this blog was designed as a ONE-WEEK blog, whose primary purpose was real-time communication during the hurricane, not after it.

Day #5 The eye of Irene is just south of New York City

It is 9:15am and the eye of hurricane Irene is just a few miles south of New York City....

Scroll down through the items below, and click on the colored text links on the left side of an item, to jump to that item......

Vermont Birds ... discussion about possible hurricane birds in Vermont, by Bryan Pfeiffer
Vermont Birds ... mention of two useful sites for birding Irene, thanks to Bryan Pfeiffer!
Vermont Birds ... a very pleasant sense of humor, thanks to Paula Gills.

The Massachusetts Birding List ... two good posts by Marshall Iliff about where to look in Massachussetts.

Connecticut Birds ... SOOTY TERN at Fairfield Beach CT, from James Purcell.

Connecticut Birds ... BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETREL by Nick Bonomo and Julian Hough. and 50 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES by Frank Mantlik.

Connecticut Birds ... SOOTY TERN and LT JAEGER in CT, Nick Bonomo

Northern New York Birds ... a reminder for local birders to be alert for hurricane birds, from Dana Rohleder.

The New York Birding List ... Three feet of water covering Dune Road, Hampton Bays, Suffolk, NY, from Robert Adamo.

The New York Birding List ... BRIDLED TERN at Gilgo Beach LI, NY from Andrew Baksh, Pat Lindsay and Shai Mitra

The New York Birding List ... Central Park in New York City, by Peter Post.

The New York Birding List ... 4 BRIDLED TERNS and 2 SOOTY TERNS in East Hampton, Suffolk County, NY,   by Angus Wilson

New Jersey Birding ... WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD and 2 SOOTY TERNS near Cape May, Michael O'Brien, David La Puma, et al.

New Jersey Birding ... helping other people during this storm, by Harvey Tomlinson.

The Pennsylvania Birding List ... 2 SOOTY TERNS from PA, by Drew Weber

The Pennsylvania Birding List ... (LT?) JAEGER from Matt Sabatine, Drew Weber and Devich Farbotnik.

Delaware Birds ... 6 tern species but action has slowed, from Jeffrey Gordon.

Delaware Birds ... BRIDLED TERN, STORM PETREL,  Black Terns, from Jeffrey Gordon.

MDOsprey Birding List ... SOOTY TERN from Bill Hubick, Lutmerding, Feild, and King.

MDOsprey Birding List ... SOOTY TERN from Kevin Graff.

MDOsprey Birding List ... TROPICAL TERN (SPP) and LONG-TAILED JAEGER, from Bill Hubick.

Virginia Birding ... a fond remembrance of Roger Tory Peterson, from Harry Glasgow.

The Carolinas Birding List ... RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, from Chris Helms

The Carolinas Birding List ... RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, from Ali Iyoob

Birdbrains ... RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, from Roberto Torres

Day #5 Hurricane Irene scraping along the coast of DelMarVa and NewJersey

Hurricane Irene has been grazing along the coast line since the Carolinas, but now it seems to be headed straight for its main landfall in NY between New York City and central Long Island NY.   Therefore we are going to shift to a more detailed map for Irene's last hours over the ocean. We will use the WunderMap from WUnderground.com,  and a sample of that a few minutes after midnight on Sunday August 28th is shown here.... you can click on any of the images to enlarge the maps....

Map from WunderMap

This map is from WunderMap, and it is recommended that you click on this link to see the latest version... WunderMap Interactive Radar & Weather Stations : Weather Underground

Here is the WunderMap at 12:30am Sunday morning, showing most computer models' trajectories projecting the eye of the hurricane to hit New York City, perhaps around noon today/Sunday....

..

Summary at end of Day #4 Saturday night 8/27

It is 9pm August 27th and Hurricane Irene is east of the Virginia coast. Many observers have found Black Terns and other good coastal birds in the last two days. Good birders in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia in the last two days have also reported some of the classic "hurricane birds"of Sooty Tern, Bridled Tern, Brown Noddy and Frigatebird,  but the storm was too far East for it to give Georgia any similar species.

The next two days will be very interesting to see if any typical "hurricane birds" are reported from the next states to be touched by Irene, as it pushes up the coast line toward New York City and Long Island, which will apparently take a direct hit. Irene will then push into New England, probably hitting the Connecticut coast strongly. Be careful.

If electricity continues in CT this blog will continue throughout Sunday 8/28 and Monday also, monitoring about twenty listservs on the East Coast and Canada, and phone calls from NorthEast birding friends. If this site goes inactive it would mean that we lost electricity and the ability to connect to the internet.

As Nick Bonomo said here a few minutes ago... Connecticut Birds
it may be possible to do some SAFE post-storm birding Sunday afternoon, TBD.
If you do see anything outstanding on Sunday or Monday please post immediately on CTbirds or your local state bird list, and call other birders.

Please remember to put safety first, ahead of everything else.
Take care and Good night!

Day #4 Hurricane Irene east of the Carolinas

WHICH WILL BE THE NEXT STATES TO REPORT "HURRICANE BIRDS"?
LOOKS LIKE BRIDLED TERNS IN FLORIDA and THE CAROLINAS ARE THE FIRST OF THE DAY!  See several other hurricane birds in the items below in RED.


This update is as of 9 PM  Saturday   8/27

This map shows the cumulative wind history of Hurricane Irene, as of mid-day 8/27...

Here is the projected storm track as of 9 pm Saturday....8/27... you can click on it to enlarge...
the storm path has adjusted a bit west and the eye of the storm is apparently aiming directly at Manhattan in NYC!

Here is the track as of 5pm...

Here is the projected storm track as of 2pm...

Here is the trajectory as of 8am....

Hurricane Irene Birds - Maine birds | Google Groups ... comments on this blog and discussion about where to do hurricane birding, thanks to Peter Vickery.

some hurricane predictions and suggestions - Maine birds | Google Groups ... from Derek Lovitch, a new and very interesting blog, featuring Hurricane Irene currently....
Maine Outdoor Journal | Field Notes: Introducing the Gulf of Maine Bird Watch!

Rhode Island Birds ... squeezing in some pre-hurricane birding, before the beach areas are closed, by Jan St. Jean.

Connecticut Birds ... it may be possible to see rare species late Sunday, TBD, from Nick Bonomo.

Connecticut Birds ... our own 3pm update about this Hurricane Irene blog.  Another update forthcoming around 9pm tonight.




The New York Birding List ... Thanks to Mike Cooper for a list of three webcams which are giving almost real-time snapshot still ocean views...of coastal places which will be difficult to get to for a few days...
Gilgo- stills- refreshed evry second or so....
Gilgo Surf Cam - Bunger Surf Shop Surfcam of Gilgo Beach Long Island N.Y.
Shinnecock still picture updated every 15 minutes...
Webcam at Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island, New York USA
Montauk- watch about 20 seconds, then have to reload for an ad....    Montauk Surf Report and HD Surf Cam | SURFLINE.COM

Hudson Mohawk Birds ... history of storm birds around Albana, by Will Raup

Hudson Mohawk Birds ... reflections on hurricane birds, by Chad Witko

The New York Birding List ... Suffolk County parks closed on Long Island, from Mike Cooper.

The New York Birding List .. more discussion about where to go, from Jacob Drucker.

The New York Birding List ... where to go to see hurricane birds?? by Peter Post, Mike Cooper, Bob Lewis.

The New York Birding List ... Gateway closed question, from Steve Walter.

The New York Birding List ... more beach closures on eastern Long Island, by Eileen Schwinn, Don Riepe, Mike Cooper, David Klauber, etc.

The New York Birding List ... Several posts here indicate that most of the ocean beaches around western Long Island and NYC are being closed and asking birders and other visitors to leave.

The New York Birding List ... looks like most of the Long Island beaches will be closed and inaccessible, as per Angus Wilson.

The New York Birding List ... this hurricane blog gets some advertising on the New York birding list, thank to Peter Post.

New Jersey Birding ... three consecutive good posts about hurricane birding in NJ and especially around Cape May, by David La Puma, Steve Glynn, and Fred Virrazzi.  Good luck to all of you Sunday & Monday, and hopefully Cape May has some good birds.

MDOsprey Birding List ... no real hurricane birds in a sea-watch this afternoon, by Jim Stasz. This is the smart way to do a hurricane seawatch.... from inside a safe restaurant overlooking the ocean!  (-:

MDOsprey Birding List ... The MD bird listserv is active late today with questions and ideas about where to look for hurricane birds.

MDOsprey Birding List ... Royal, Caspian and Black Terns, but probably not truly hurricane birds, from  Jeff Shenot.

MDOsprey Birding List ... 11 Black Terns at 11:30am may be hurricane birds, by Jim Stasz.

MDOsprey Birding List ... Maryland discussion of possible hurricane bird species, by Phil Davis.

The West Virginia Birding List ... brief note on possible storm birds, by Matt Orsie.

Virginia Birding ... two SOOTY TERNS around 4-5pm, thanks to Mike Stinson, David Spears, and Evan Spears.

Virginia Birding ... two BRIDLED TERNS in a roost with Black, Caspian, Royal, Common, Forster's, and Sandwich Terns, thanks to Ned Brinkley.

Virginia Birding ... a hurricane "storm roost" forming in Virginia, by Ned Brinkley.

The Carolinas Birding List ... 3 SOOTY TERNS, thanks to Ali Iyoob.

The Carolinas Birding List ... SOOTY TERNS from Andrew Thornton and Kent Fiala.  Same birds located later by Steve Shultz... The Carolinas Birding List

The Carolinas Birding List ... thankful for the SOOTY TERN photos, by Harry Sell.

The Carolinas Birding List ... 2 BRIDLED TERNS from Derb Carter.

The Birding Lists Digest ... BRIDLED TERN in the Carolinas, by Derb Carter, thanks to a comment sent in by Jess.

The Birding Lists Digest ... SOOTY TERN at Mason Inlet, NC by Derb Carter.

The Carolinas Birding List ... more on the SOOTY TERN and BRIDLED TERN from Derb Carter.

The Carolinas Birding List ... southern parts of Carolinas already showing some post-hurricane weather, discussing hummers, not hurricane seabirds.

Georgia Birding ... nothing about hurricane birds from Georgia yet.

Florida Birds ... BRIDLED TERN in Florida around 9am, by Linda Most.

GOOD NEWS ABOUT THAT WHIMBREL.....
Florida Birds ... the hurricane Whimbrel appears to be alive and well today 8/27, as per email from Patrick Leary. See the map of the bird's position today 8/27...
seaturtle.org - Tracking - Chinquapin

Birdbrains ... Florida birders looking for hurricane birds late yesterday, but with little success, by Gary Davis.

Brown Noddy (aka Common Noddy)

One of our favorite "hurricane birds".
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia... Brown Noddy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seen in South Carolina on August 26, 2011

Day #3 Hurricane Irene east of north Florida and Georgia

WILL ANY "HURRICANE BIRDS" BE REPORTED TODAY IN ANY STATE? 
YESSSS!   SOUTH CAROLINA IS #1 WITH BROWN NODDY, SOOTY TERN AND TWO MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS.  OR MAYBE FLORIDA WAS FIRST WITH ITS 40 SOOTY TERNS?
See the reported items below the maps.
THE TIME IS 11:00PM FRIDAY 8/26

Here is the projected storm track as of 8pm tonight Friday August 26th...

And here is the storm track as of 11am Friday morning...

Discussions - nf.birds | Google Groups ... nothing about the hurricane yet in Newfoundland.

Prince Edward Island Birders ... nothing about the hurricane yet.

Nova Scotia ... nothing yet about the hurricane.

The Ornitho-QC List ... the hurricane Whimbrel, in French.

Ontario Birding ... no hurricane posts yet.

New Brunswick ... nothing about the hurricane yet

Discussions - Maine birds | Google Groups ... interesting birds in Maine, but nothing about the hurricane yet.

Vermont Birds ... comments about the Whimbreal that flew into Hurricane Irene

New Hampshire Birds ... suggestions to search CT river and inland waters for hurricane birds, by Steve Mirick

The Massachusetts Birding List ... a good post by Marshall Iliff, including reference to his excellent eBird article...  Hurricane Irene en route — eBird

The Massachusetts Birding List ... additional refuges closed in MA

The Massachusetts Birding List ... Monomoy NWR closing for Irene, by Barbara Volkle. Plus Peter Trull's report of an adult Sabine's Gull on 8/25 (but not due to the hurricane).

Connecticut Birds ... seabirds and coast-birds in hurricanes, by Dennis Varza.

Connecticut Birds ... thoughts about birding on monday, by John Babington.

The New York Birding List ... John Bull's fascinating bird history of hurricanes around New York City, from 1878 to 1960 hurricanes, from Mike Cooper.

The New York Birding List ... a good article about hurricane birding, referenced by Doug Gochfeld...
Hurricane Irene en route — eBird ... an excellent article!

The New York Birding List ... some interesting hurricane history from a well-known "old-time hurricane birder", Peter Post, regarding some of the difficulties of birding after hurricanes.

New Jersey Birding ... The calm before the storm in NJ

Delaware Birds ... Bombay Hook NWR closing because of Hurricane Irene.

MDOsprey Birding List ... hoping for tropical terns in Maryland.

Virginia Birding ... no hurricane birds from Virginia yet.

THE CAROLINAS ARE GETTING "HURRICANE BIRDS"......click on the colored links on left...
The Carolinas Birding List ... BROWN NODDY in South Carolina. Thanks also to Andrew Dasinger for collaborating on this stuff.

The Carolinas Birding List ... 2 MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS, SOOTY TERN IN SC.

The Carolinas Birding List ... wild weather in North Carolina at 7pm

Georgia Birding ... search for hurricane birds around Jekyll Island GA not successful.

Birdbrains ... Two posts from Florida today, where searches for "hurricane birds" were NOT successful, by Gary Davis and by Michael Brothers.

Florida Birds ... One Long-tailed Jaeger but not other pelagics or hurricane birds, by Michael Brothers.

Florida Birds ... 40 SOOTY TERNS, around 8am, by Bob Richter.  I overlooked this Florida report until Matt Malin brought it to my attention tonight....thank you Matt. This might be the first report of any Irene "hurricane birds".


SEVERAL MORE ARTICLES ABOUT THE WHIMBREL FLYING THROUGH IRENE...
Bird survives rough ride through Hurricane Irene
Did This Bird Survive a Flight Through Hurricane Irene?
William & Mary - Whimbrel successfully negotiates most severe part of Hurricane Irene
And here is another Whimbrel record flight in 2008...
Winnie the Whimbrel

Day #2 Irene is in the Bahamas east of south Florida

UPDATE:  NO REPORTS OF ANY "HURRICANE BIRDS" YET AS OF 8/25  11PM

Thursday's 11pm projected storm track map, with Irene still headed for New York City...

Today's 5pm projected storm track map shows a bit more drift back to the west, suggesting that Irene might scrape right along the coast from Virginia up into New York City and then into New England...

Today's 8am projected storm track map shows a slight adjustment back to the west since yesterday, pointing it toward western Long Island NY and New England...

It is 11pm now and bird lists today started to discuss Hurricane Irene, but there were no reports of "hurricane birds" (birds probably impacted/transported by the hurricane, especially the less common species and those displaced from other locations).  All coastal bird lists will be reviewed again tomorrow, from Florida up through the Maritime Provinces.  Meanwhile click on the blue/purple-colored links below to jump to Thursday's posts, and then you can use your browser's "back button" to return to this site....

Nova Scotia ... the first Nova Scotia post about the oncoming hurricane Irene.

Hurricane Irene - birds and more - Maine birds | Google Groups ... Maine birders also expressing safety concerns about Hurricane Irene.

The Massachusetts Birding List ... echoing that Whimbrel radar tracking story from VA and thinking about Sooty Terns.

Connecticut Birds ... a long article: suggestions on birding Hurricane Irene, by Nick Bonomo

Connecticut Birds ... Some hurricane birding tips from Frank Mantlik and Ned Brinkley.

Connecticut Birds ... some thoughts about hurricanes and birds, by Paul Carrier.

The Cayuga Birding List ... a reminder to be alert for possible hurricane birds, from Chris Tessaglia-Hymes.

New Jersey Birding ... "Hurricane Irene and birding potential", plus the several posts directly below this one on the NJBirds list.

New Jersey Birding ... will Kirtland's Warbler be impacted by Hurricane Irene?

New Jersey Birding ... "Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge closed until further notice"

New Jersey Birding ... where should a birder be on Monday morning? by Mike Gochfeld

New Jersey Birding ... the New Jersey shore is at risk of a deadly storm surge

Delaware Birds ... concerns about Irene threatening Delaware.

MDOsprey Birding List ... remembering a hurricane that hit Assateague

Virginia Birding ... satellite transmitter tracking a Whimbrel as it flies through Irene today! Amazing!!

Virginia Birding ... more deep concern about this hurricane!

Virginia Birding ... could this be the first sign of Irene approaching Virginia? Plus a post about damages and safety issues.

The Carolinas Birding List ... Serious concern in the Carolinas

Georgia Birding ... a Georgia discussion about possible birds from Hurricane Irene.


Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges will be closed because of the hurricane...
"From: Janis Nepshinsky/R5/FWS/DOI
Date: 08/25/2011 10:53AM
Subject: Press Release for Closure of Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges due to projected path of Hurricane Irene
Please see attached and copied press release.
Please call if you have any questions.
Thanks, Janis
cell 787.6298
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
News Release
Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex
Block Island NWR John H. Chafee NWR at Pettaquamscutt Cove Ninigret NWR Sachuest Point NWR Trustom Pond NWR
50 Bend Road, Charlestown, RI 02813                                401/364-9124       Fax: 401/364-0170
For Immediate Release                                                                                       August 25, 2011
For Further Information Contact:
Janis Nepshinsky, Visitor Services Manager 401 364-9124 or
Charlie Vandemoer, Refuge Manager: 401.364.9124x11
Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges Closed Due To Hurricane Irene’s Project Path
With Hurricane Irene projected to hit the northeast coast this weekend, the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) will be closed beginning Saturday, August 27, 2011 until further notice.  Forecasters predict that the Rhode Island coast will experience surging tides, high sustained winds of 75 miles per hours and severe flooding.
We regret this emergency closure and we will re-open as soon as conditions are safe, says Janis Nepshinsky, Visitor Services Manager.
The Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges consists of Block Island NWR, John H. Chafee Refuge NWR in Narragansett/South Kingstown, Ninigret NWR in Charlestown, Sachuest Point NWR in Middletown, and Trustom Pond NWR in South Kingstown.  Please visit www.fws.gov/ninigret/complex.
For information on when the refuges will be reopened, please call 364.9124, extension 48 or visit Facebook, keyword Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
*********
Janis Nepshinsky
Visitor Services Manager
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex
50 Bend Road, Charlestown, RI  02813
401.364.9124 extension 28,  Fax: 401.364.0170
Website:  http://www.fws.gov/ninigret/complex/
Facebook:  keyword: Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex
"

Day #1 -- Introduction

UPDATE:  NO REPORTS OF ANY "HURRICANE BIRDS" YET AS OF 8/24 9PM

This site will provide daily links to internet nature reports related to Hurricane Irene 2011.  We know that hurricanes are very dangerous, damaging and costly. This site is NOT encouraging anybody to go out and endanger themselves to see birds or the storm itself. Even after the storm there can be dangers, such as electric wires on the wet ground. This site, however, will focus mostly on bird-related changes caused by this storm, including southern and tropical birds which may be blown north by the winds. We will monitor all the daily posts on the twenty East Coast bird lists from Florida up to Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. It will be interesting to see how this storm is reflected on these twenty birding lists.

Here is a snapshot of the estimated storm track as of 8pm August 24, 2011.....slightly to the east of the projected track last night....

Click to expand this image

There will be plenty of hurricane-related posts on the East Coast bird lists over the next 7 days, and here are the first several of them....click on the blue-colored links to jump to those posts, and then you can use your browser's "back button" to return to this site...

New Brunswick ... the first hurricane related post from New Brunswick, Canada

No hurricane posts from Maine yet.

No hurricane posts from Vermont yet.

No hurricane posts from New Hampshire yet.

The Massachusetts Birding List  Hurricane Irene could be very damaging

No hurricane posts from Rhode Island yet.

Connecticut Birds  Hurricane Irene appears to be aiming at us

No hurricane posts from New York yet.

No hurricane posts from New Jersey yet.

No hurricane posts from Delaware yet.

MDOsprey Birding List  Starting to think about the hurricane hitting Maryland

Virginia Birding  First post about the hurricane from Virginia

The Carolinas Birding List  No hurricane posts from the Carolinas yet.

Georgia Birding  Georgia is starting to think about the hurricane, as per this posting....

"Subject: Hurricane Irene Alert - 
Possible Storm-Blown Pelagic Birds - Maybe Friday through Sunday or so!
From: Mark McShane
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:20:01 -0400
Hi All,
Hurricane Irene bears watching and is slated to come up the Georgia coast
Friday and Saturday. Depending on the actual track of the storm we may get
some pelagic species storm-blown onto the Georgia coast and even inland
Friday-Sunday, or even later, as the birds collect themselves and
hopefully head back out to sea! ...
Also, here's a link to Lydia Thompson's interesting report of 8/22/2008
concerning storm-blown pelagic species on the Georgia coast then:
Coastal Georgia Birding: Hanging on by toenails
It's possible that some Georgia inland lakes may end up attracting and
holding storm-tossed pelagic species from this storm for a short while!"

Birdbrains ... some first hurricane thoughts from Florida


MORE TOMORROW!