NY's Fire Island debris effort faces bird deadline

One special visitor's planned arrival to Fire Island is creating a pressing deadline for the cleanup of tons of rotting wood, sheet rock, old refrigerators and other Superstorm Sandy debris from the popular vacation destination east of New York City.

Contractor crews are scrambling to get the trash removed by the end of March, before truck access is severely restricted to protect the nesting areas of the endangered bird species known as the piping plover.

"The deadline has everyone's attention," said Suzy Goldhirsch, president of the Fire Island Association, which represents businesses and homeowners on the 32-mile-long barrier island south of Long Island.

She said most homeowners do not begrudge laws protecting the plover, a compact, pale shorebird with coloring that makes it all but vanish against the open sand flats where it nests.

But if officials can't get the cleanup done by the deadline, they will have to haul away the estimated 82,500 cubic yards of trash by barge, which will be much more expensive and take longer.

That could push the cleanup closer to the Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tourist season, when the population of Fire Island swells from 300 to 75,000.

Access to the beachfront by vehicle will be banned until after September, according to environmentalists.

Continued:  http://online.wsj.com/article/APe0174a435be94284aa9d750e676bc009.html

Report finds $50M in post-Sandy bird habitat projects needed

The human devastation from Hurricane Sandy was so severe that not much attention was paid to other things -- such as the destruction of habitats that are important to birds.

But earlier today, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation released a report detailing nearly $50 million in restoration projects that are needed to help birds and bird habitats that were affected by Sandy.

"Hurricane Sandy moved massive amounts of coastal sediments with the extreme power of storm-driven water, changing barrier landscapes, eroding important bird nesting islands and blowing out dikes of impoundments managed specifically for breeding, migrating and wintering shorebirds, seabirds, wading birds and waterfowl," the report noted.

Among the protects is $10 million needed to repair the Delaware Bay beaches in New Jersey, from Reeds Beach to Pierce's Point. This is prime spawning habitat for horseshoe crabs. Every spring -- notably on the highest tides in May -- the crabs swarm ashore to lay their eggs. That just happens to be when red knots and other shorebirds are arriving partway through their migrations from wintering grounds in South America to breeding grounds in the Arctic. They depend on the crab eggs to refuel and regain much-needed weight so they can continue their journey.

But the report said that "the cascading impact of storm surge and sand displacement" decreased the horseshoe crab spawning habitat "significantly." 

"With almost no sand for horseshoe crabs to spawn, the 'lifeblood' of many migrating shorebirds in the the Atlantic, horseshoe crab eggs will be virtually nonexistent," the report said.

Continued: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/greenliving/Report-finds-50M-in-post-Sandy-bird-projects-needed.html

Sandy puts Northern bird in Florida, great danger

The heavy rains and tortuous winds of Hurricane Sandy disrupted many lives, and now some wildlife officials believe the super storm may be to blame for a bird that is showing up in Southwest Florida, exhausted and starving.

Wildlife specialists have never seen a razorbill here, but 19 of them have recently been brought to places such as the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples and the Clinic for Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel. The black and white waterbirds usually don’t travel any further south than Virginia.

Experts say the birds mostly stay between Maine and New Jersey and prefer breeding in Iceland.

Sandy may have blown the small birds off course and destroyed their food supply. They are coming to Florida in search of food, but the long journey and lack of food they are used to eating is killing them. They normally eat schooling fish, crustaceans, herring and other invertebrates.

“It’s exhaustion and emaciation,” said Jessica Bender, wildlife rehabilitation specialist with the conservancy. “They are just really skinny and really tired.”

Continued:  http://www.news-press.com/article/20121231/NEWS0105/312310041/Sandy-puts-Northern-bird-Florida-great-danger?nclick_check=1

To Birds, Storm Survival Is Only Natural

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the spiteful me-too northeaster, much of the East Coast looked so battered and flooded, so strewed with toppled trees and stripped of dunes and beaches, that many observers feared the worst. Any day now, surely, the wildlife corpses would start showing up — especially birds, for who likelier to pay when a sky turns rogue than the ones who act as if they own it?

Hurricane Sandy battered the mid-Atlantic region on Oct. 29 and 30. Here’s a day-by-day look at the storm’s impact.

Yet biologists studying the hurricane’s aftermath say there is remarkably little evidence that birds, or any other countable, charismatic fauna for that matter, have suffered the sort of mass casualties seen in environmental disasters like the BP oil spill of 2010, when thousands of oil-slicked seabirds washed ashore, unable to fly, feed or stay warm.

“With an oil spill, the mortality is way more direct and evident,” said Andrew Farnsworth, a scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “And though it’s possible that thousands of birds were slammed into the ocean by this storm and we’ll never know about it, my gut tells me that didn’t happen.”

To the contrary, scientists said, powerful new satellite tracking studies of birds on the wing — including one that coincided with the height of Hurricane Sandy’s fury — reveal birds as the supreme masters of extreme weather management, able to skirt deftly around gale-force winds, correct course after being blown horribly astray, or even use a hurricane as a kind of slingshot to propel themselves forward at hyperspeed.

“We must remind ourselves that 40 to 50 percent of birds are migratory, often traveling thousands of miles a year between their summer and winter grounds,” said Gary Langham, chief scientist of the National Audubon Society in Washington. “The only way they can accomplish that is to have amazing abilities that are far beyond anything we can do.”

Continued:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/science/birds-have-natural-ability-to-survive-storms.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Pelicans blown north by Sandy get ride home to Florida

Two brown pelicans blown to Rhode Island by the winds of Hurricane Sandy were flying back Saturday to their natural habitat in Florida -- via a private plane.

The first of the large birds, whose wingspans measure 6 to 7 feet, was found on the side of a road at Fishermen's Memorial State Park on Nov. 7, nine days after the storm made landfall in New Jersey, said Jennifer Brooks, clinic director at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island.

The bird, a juvenile likely from a nest in North Carolina, had been tagged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and records showed it was presumed to have died, she said.

The second pelican landed on a fishing boat about 120 miles south of Block Island the following day, she said. The crew of the boat, which provides fish to SeaWorld theme parks, fed the bird for several days before docking.

"They were a little bit thin, they were a little beat up from the storm," Brooks said of the birds. They had lost tail feathers and suffered scratches to their throat pouches, which are prone to frostbite in northern climates, Brooks said.

Animal workers had been keeping the birds in an outdoor shelter before moving them into a camping tent inside the clinic.


Continued: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/17/15241573-pelicans-blown-north-by-sandy-get-ride-home-to-florida?lite

Rare birds blown to Cape shores by Hurricane Sandy

PROVINCETOWN —

It’s been a busy week for the bird doctors at Wild Care, the Outer Cape’s wildlife rehabilitation clinic, where a number of new patients are being treated for injuries sustained as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

On Saturday, Wild Care director Stephanie Ellis and volunteer Josh Drew retrieved a young brown pelican from the beach at Sheep’s Pond in Brewster. The pelican was placed in a crib in a corner of the wildlife hospital, warmed with a heat lamp and given medicine to treat respiratory problems. Volunteers have been feeding him mackerel and herring to fatten him up.

A denizen of southern latitudes and a rarity on the Cape, the big-billed seabird was reportedly “begging for handouts” from local fishermen before he was rescued, Ellis said. It’s suspected that he was blown off-course during last week’s storm.

“He is doing OK. He is brighter, perkier than he was before. And he is eating like a pelican should,” Ellis said on Monday. But she added that his condition remains critical.

The bird was due for an X-ray on Monday afternoon at Eastham Veterinary Clinic to determine if he had any broken bones or internal injuries.

Wild Care is also treating a young northern gannet found on a local beach. Gannets are diving seabirds that seldom stray over land.

Read more: Rare birds blown to Cape shores by Hurricane Sandy - - Wicked Local Provincetown http://www.wickedlocal.com/provincetown/news/x481717042/Rare-birds-blown-to-Cape-shores-by-Hurricane-Sandy#ixzz2Buykicka

Justina Laniewski Tries To 'Save' Ducks During Hurricane Sandy, Gets Arrested In Pennsylvania

GLEN ROCK, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania woman faces charges that include risking a catastrophe after she jumped into a raging creek to "save" a couple dozen wild ducks.

Southern Regional Police in York County says Justina Laniewski went into the Codorus Creek in Glen Rock on Monday evening, and her 4-year-old started to follow her.

A neighbor grabbed the child, but it took eight firefighters from a nearby station to rescue the 41-year-old Laniewski from neck-high waters. She was also charged with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.

Court records say Laniewski told police she slipped and fell into the water.

Southern Regional Sgt. Darryl Smuck says a breath test showed Laniewski's alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit for driving. A phone listing for her couldn't be located.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/justina-laniewski-saves-ducks-hurricane-sandy_n_2044653.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news#slide=1549130

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: What Happens to the Birds?

The devastating superstorm that hit the U.S. East Coast this week didn't just wreak havoc on human communities—the spawn of Hurricane Sandy also damaged habitat for coastal bird species.

We talked to Bryan Watts, director of the Center for Conservation Biology in Williamsburg, Virginia, to get a bird's-eye perspective on the disaster.

How do birds react to hurricanes?

When birds encounter a storm like this, they're basically in scramble mode just like we are.

Are you worried about birds dying?

We have mortality events with these hurricanes, [especially with] birds that are either migrating or in vulnerable situations. Although surprisingly we have tracked several whimbrels with satellite transmitters that have flown directly through these storms. Last fall, we tracked a whimbrel named Chinquapin right into Hurricane Irene that successfully [landed] in the Bahamas.

Continued:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121030-hurricane-sandy-superstorm-birds-new-jersey-science-animals/

Update on out-of-town birds: They're taking the next bus home

New York, displacing them far from home. At Cayuga Lake, a species from a remote North Atlantic island and one from the high arctic were spotted earlier this week. 

But what happens to these accidental visitors after the storm has passed?

Stranded seabirds, such as the Leach’s Storm-Petrel and Ross’s Gull seen in Central New York, need to return to the ocean to survive. So they will leave land once the weather clears up, said Andrew Farnsworth, a New York City-based research scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Farnsworth also leads BirdCast, a migratory bird tracking program.

The Ross’s Gull spotted on Cayuga Lake breeds in the high arctic of North America and northeast Siberia. To fly back to the North American arctic, it would have to travel an estimated 2,600 miles. “The best chance to see rare birds will be right after the storm has passed – there will definitely be some out-of-range and unusual birds found,” Farnsworth said. “We could be seeing birds that have been traveling with Sandy for hundreds of miles and are just looking for a break from the weather.”

The storm also interrupted the southward migration of many other bird species. With clearer skies expected at week’s end, large numbers of birds are likely to resume their flights. 

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/update_on_out-of-town_birds_th.html

Sandy Brings Ashore Rare Birds

Hurricane Sandy brought with her a range of birds from distant places, giving American bird watchers a chance to see species they might have never encountered otherwise.

Andrew Harnsworth of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology talks to Lisa Mullins about some of the rare species that are being spotted in and around New York.

Audio recording here: http://www.theworld.org/2012/10/sandy-rare-birds/