As you might imagine, many birds fly rapidly from
the area as a hurricane approaches. They’re alerted by the sudden drop in
barometric pressure which they instinctively know means “leave fast” – after
all, their species has been dealing with storms for ages. However, some will choose
to stay put if they can find shelter, and ride it out.
In addition to the drastic pressure change,
hurricanes generally approach from the south. They’re huge storms,
with counterclockwise winds, carrying lots of water. This means that ahead
of the core of the storm, winds will be blowing essentially from
east to west inland from the upper gulf coast. (The same principles apply when a
hurricane approaches any other land mass).
At the same time, our fall-migrating birds are
heading from north to south, many flying down the Central Flyway (centered on the
Mississippi River), and will be driven west toward Texas ahead of the
hurricane's landfall. This will obviously increase the number of migrating
birds coming through Texas, and decrease the number significantly that are moving
through places to the east of the storm. As the storm approaches and makes landfall,
winds will be strong, and birds would probably not brave
headwinds in excess of 100mph just to get to the gulf coast. The beaches
in Texas are better anyway!
The east side of the storm, with winds out of the south, is the "dirty" side of the
storm, as these winds carry more wet debris and are far more destructive than east-to-west winds.
So, for example, east Texas should be spared from much wind damage by a hurricane that hits Louisiana. A
hurricane loses strength over land also. These counterclockwise winds
discourage birds from flying into the nasty east side of incoming storms.
The non-migrating birds in the path of a hurricane
just hunker down in a hole in a tree, under the eave of a house or in the
center of a large tree. Some, unfortunately, will be killed. Others may get
blown far away by a big storm (Katrina blew many birds as far away as
Tennessee).
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| Where am I?? |
While watching migrating birds may be good in Texas
and slow in Florida during a hurricane hitting Louisiana, another group of birds may visit. These are the
water/shore birds (“pelagic” species) that live along coastlines. Many of them
get "trapped" in the relatively calm eye of the hurricane and carried well inland, to
places and habitats they haven't a clue about. Naturally, they turn around and
head back to the coast as soon as they can. But it’s not out of the question
that someone will see, for instance, a Shearwater or Avocet in north Texas as
the remnants of a hurricane pass through. Birds trapped in the eye of an active storm have very little natural food around, since the preceding east-west winds scoured the area via high winds. Pelagic birds normally drop from
what’s remaining of the hurricane’s “eye”, into large lakes. (Many pelicans were spotted in and over Lake Lewisville during hurricanes Katrina and Ike).
Of course, the biggest threat to all kinds of birds
is the loss of their habitat and natural food. A Cardinal who lived in a Mississippi forest, for
example, may have his forest blown down. Or a Meadowlark may suddenly have his
meadow underwater. Or a Woodpecker in a Louisiana swamp may have his habitat
inundated by salt water from the gulf. This affects both the birds’ homes and
their food supply.
So let’s keep both people and birds in our
thoughts as hurricanes develop, which they certainly will.
