Birding during and after Tropical Storm Fay

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 11, 2020

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 11, 2020

A quick update on birding in the wake of Tropical Storm Fay both in the immediate area as well as other areas along the path of the storm.  Overall there has been very little in the way of reports of storm related birds so far.  The storm was a minimal tropical storm and was over the open ocean for a short period before making landfall in New Jersey and then moving up the Hudson River Valley and it quickly fell apart after moving inland.  The vast majority of rain on the west side of the storm in New York and the winds were not as strong as predicted. Nonetheless we did get some rain around the area but by dawn it was just occasional showers moving through and a breeze out of the south.

I was out before dawn on Saturday morning over to Winsor Dam in the hopes of finding something of interest and was joined right from the start by Ted.  We arrived around 5AM at Winsor Dam where I would have about an hour and a half to look for birds before I had to leave for work.  There were occasional showers that moved through along with periods of mist that dropped visibility for short periods of time but overall the conditions were not too bad for viewing.  A bit later in the morning we were joined by Marshall and Greg and we reminisced a bit of our epic day at the same spot during Hurricane Irene as we continually scanned both the water and sky.  We didn't have any luck finding anything of interest during the time I was there.  I heard from a couple others checking other spots along the Connecticut River early on and they also had no luck finding any storm displaced birds.  The only storm related bird that showed up in western Massachusetts was a Laughing Gull that Ted found late in the morning on the sandbar in Longmeadow and it continued through early afternoon. 

In searching through all the records I could find along the rough path of the storm from New York north the only noteworthy list with some interesting storm related birds so far was from a seawatch in New York City at Jacob Riis Park which produced a Brown Booby, 50+ Great Shearwater as well two possible Cory Shearwater and a probable Royal Tern.

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 12, 2020

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 12, 2020

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 12, 2020

I stopped by the dam briefly on my way home this morning with the faint hope of finding a lingering storm related bird but not surprisingly I did not find any.  I did however have a Common Loon in quite close that allowed for great views as it stretched and preened.