Compilation of Hurricanes in Newfoundland

Hurricanes are well known for bringing exciting birding opportunities along their paths, and Newfoundland, not surprisingly, has a history of great birds being carried here by hurricanes.

Here's a quick run down of the important (and lesser important) hurricanes that have brought good birds to our island, or had promising tracks with mixed results - starting with the best of them all: Hurricane Helene in 1958!

I've included a map of the track of the hurricane, which also provides details of the strength of the storm throughout its life, and a list of the birds it brought with it. Hopefully in the future this compilation will be handy in terms of predicting what birds might arrive with an approaching storm or something to drool over on a rainy day at home.

Also, check out this link for some additional details from Dave Brown:

http://birdingnewfoundland.blogspot.com/2011/09/keeping-eye-on-katia-and-revisiting.html

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-----------------------------------------Hurricane Helene - 1958-------------------------------------
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Could it have been any better? This was probably the most exciting hurricane to have hit Newfoundland in living memory (not mine).

Developed in the Cape Verde Islands region, came within 10 miles of Cape Fear (North Carolina) on Sept 27, before racing Northwards and hitting Burgeo (Newfoundland) on Sept 29th.

The Birds:

1000+ Laughing Gulls in Burgeo: remarkably, these were the first records for the island!

22+ Black Skimmers: also the first records for the island... and still the ONLY records!

One can only imagine what else would have been found in todays age where anyone can get great photos of these birds, and dedicated birders would tirelessly seek out the last waif.

Laughing Gulls in lee of houses at Burgeo, Newfoundland on September 30, after Hurricane Helene had passed.

The Story (it's painful to read this):

Photos and details taken from here:

Tuck, Leslie. Laughing Gulls and Black Skimmers brought to Newfoundland by Hurricane. Bird Banding, 1968. Volume 39, Issue 3.

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----------------------------------------Hurricane Wilma - 2005--------------------------------------

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Hurricane Wilma was the second strongest hurricane ever in the Atlantic ocean. With peak sustained winds of 295 km/h! It crossed the Yucatan peninsula on the 21st of October, it crossed Florida a couple days later, and passed to the Southeast of Newfoundland around Oct 27th.

The Birds:

Gull-billed Tern (only the second record for Newfoundland)

20+ Laughing Gulls

2 Franklin's Gulls

Arctic Tern

Sandwich Tern

150+ Chimney Swifts

Tree, Bank, & Barn Swallows

Black-necked Stilt?

See here, here, and here.

Nearby St. Pierre & Miquelon outclassed us with a Magnificent Frigatebird!

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Those two were easily the stand-out events in Newfoundlands birding history of hurricanes.

Below are several others that have brought far less vagrants, or resulted in high numbers of "local" seabirds.

The remaining are listed in reverse chronological order.

Adding this note in Feb 2024:

Hurricane Chris in July 2018. Eye of the storm went up Placentia Bay on July 12th. 50k + shearwaters in the area that day. In the days afterward there was a few Black Terns and a Roseate Tern on the Southern Avalon plus a handful of Laughing Gulls. I don't recall there being any discussion that these were hurricane related, but in 6 years out it seems like they very well could have been.

Also check Hurricane Dorion in September 2019. This one brought thousands of hurricane waifs to Nova Scotia and the eye crossed Halifax and continued across NS, then PEI and out into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite this track, several waifs showed up in SW Newfoundland including GB Terns, Sandwich Terns, several Black Terns and Newfoundlands only photo-documented record of Marbled Godwit. It was a fun week!

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----------------------------------------------------2014---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Cristobal:

No waifs came from this storm in late August, but there were good "wrap around" winds that resulted in strong Northerly winds concentrating local seabirds in CBS.

See here and here

Hurricane Gonzalo:

This storm in mid-October brought with it a bit of excitement, but it turned out to be a bust. The eye of the storm passed ~100km East of Cape Race and ended up bringing a Bridled Tern to Britain.... not fair!

See here and here for great shots of angry seas, but no rarities

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----------------------------------------------------2012---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Leslie:

This storm in early September brought nothing foreign with it. It did however push local seabirds inland, including 2 Great Skuas!

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----------------------------------------------------2011---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Katia:

A miss!

Hurricane Maria:

A few rare warblers in the days that followed this storm included a Cerulean Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, and YB Chat - I would hardly attribute these to Hurricane Maria.

Hurricane Ophelia:

Limited results from this storm. See here for a good movement of seabirds.

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----------------------------------------------------2010---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Igor:

This hurricane that hit Cape Race on Sept 21st, was the worst hurricane in Newfoundlands history in terms of property damage. Birders really only combed the Southern shore 2 days later (fair enough considering the need for safety) without finding anything .

Dave Brown put in a days effort, see his summary here.

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----------------------------------------------------2009---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Bill:

A LEAST TERN was found in Grand Bank (Burin Peninsula) - the fourth record for Newfoundland. Hard to say if its occurrence was truly related to the storm - however of the 4 documented records, 2 are from storms with this kind of track (a track remaining far offshore for the duration of its life).

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----------------------------------------------------2007---------------------------------------------------

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Tropical Storm Chantal:

This one was associated with a good movement of regular seabird species. See here.

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----------------------------------------------------2006---------------------------------------------------

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Tropical Storm Alberto

Hello?

Hurricane Florence: 

A LEAST TERN (3rd record for the province) was found at St. Shott's.

A White-tailed Tropicbird was found dead in St. John's.

A Laughing Gull was at Point La Haye on Sept 17th (the eye crossed by Cape Race on Sept 13th)

Two Common Ringed Plovers in St. Shott's may have been related to the storm

Several carolinian passerines were seen across the Avalon in the aftermath of the storm.

Hurricane Isaac: 

Nice try!

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----------------------------------------------------2005---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Wilma:

See above!

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----------------------------------------------------2002---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Gustav:

Don't think any birders checked out the SW area of the province after this one...

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----------------------------------------------------2001---------------------------------------------------

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Hurricane Erin:

Hurricane Gabrielle:

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----------------------------------------------------2000---------------------------------------------------

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Tropical Storm Leslie:

1999:

Hurricane Gert:

See here for a solid list of local seabirds!

1998

Hurricane Bonnie:

An almost legendary track!

1996 - Tropical Storm Josephine

A Clapper/King Rail was found the day after this one at Cape Race. And a Clapper Rail at Bear Cove a week later too. Association vs causation?

1995 - Hurricane Luis:

1966 - Hurricane Celia:

1964- Hurricane Gladys:

1958 - Hurricane Helene

See above!

1955 - Hurricane Lone:

Wow! Time machine anyone?

https://ebird.org/checklist/S196295915

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There you have it!

A crude review of many of the notable tropical storms that have reached Newfoundland.

Here's hoping for more great storm chases in the future!

2016 Birding

I spent the entire year in Canada and managed to see 349 species of bird.

This post is heavy on the photos:

The year started off strong when Ed, Alison and I found this Sabine's Gull at St. Vincent's in late January. One of very few for North America in the winter months:

Much of the winter birding in Newfoundland relies on gulls for our entertainment. This gull stood out from the crowd:

Probable Thayer's Gull

Another highlight from the winter was this Fieldfare in Lumsden - a Eurasian species, with about 9 records in the province:

One of my goals this year was to spend more time exploring areas that have less coverage. I managed to get to Terra Nova National Park in central Newfoundland for a weekend.

Spruce Grouse is fairly common across the island - especially Terra Nova - but nonexistent on the Avalon peninsula:

A welcome introduced species to our woodlands!

One May 29-30, Catherine and I did our annual big day in support of Bird Studies Canada. We raised over $1500 and saw a record 96 species in a 24 hour period on the Avalon peninsula. Willow Ptarmigan was one of our highlights:

The day after the big day I came across this Cave Swallow - only the second record for the province, and likely an individual from the Bahama race, adding to its significance:

While trying to relocate the swallow, Blair Fleming and I found this Euro Golden-Plover:

As I've now gotten more used to, the breeding season rushed by and young birds were starting their lives with gusto. This Horned Lark was in an unfamiliar plumage:

One of my favourite photos from 2016 - an Arctic Blue sunning itself on the coastal barrens at Cape Spear:

In late July two rare terns graced us at Renews: a Royal Tern and Sandwich Tern

Then it was back across the island before heading to Nova Scotia, Ontario, and BC for 3 months.

A Merlin chasing a Great Blue Heron from its territory in the Codroy Valley:

An unprecedented influx of Cory's Shearwater to Newfoundland waters occurred in early August. It will be interesting to see if the phenomena repeats itself in 2017.

In BC I was fortunate to start with a 3-day weekend of all-out birding with John Reynolds. One of the highlights was getting great looks at Lewis's Woodpecker:

The other birding highlight from this month in BC was the annual pelagic off of Ucluelet.

Black-footed Albatross:

In Ontario I took some time off work/school to volunteer at Long Point Bird Observatory.

Migration was in full swing and allowed me to significantly improve two aspects of my birding at Long Point:

identifying birds in flight, and familiarizing myself with chip calls of sparrows.

Large flocks of Common Terns provided great entertainment:

Back in Newfoundland by early November:

I returned just in time to enjoy some excellent finds, including this Hermit Warbler:

December has passed and now it's back to studying the gulls - our birding lifeline in St. John's during the winter.

A recent Kelp Gull was one of the most surprising birds of the year in the province:

2017 promises to be an exciting year: I have a couple of big trips planned, and some longterm projects I hope to start to move forward on - more on these later.

In the spring I will be graduating from medical school and beginning my career. Lots of unknowns still, but these should be sorted out within the next couple months.

Have a great 2017 - may you enjoy many hours enjoying and learning about our nature!

"Sooty" Fox Sparrow in Newfoundland

The Fox Sparrow is a very common species in Newfoundland from early April until the end of October, with a few individuals over-wintering on the island every year. It is also an extremely variable species with 13 or more different populations described, which are clustered into four unique "groups".

Our Fox Sparrow, fits into  the group of "Red" Fox Sparrows. It isn't hard to see why:

The "Red" Fox Sparrow has the widest range of our 4 groups and is the only group found in the East.  The other 3 groups are restricted to the Western half of North America.

"Red" Fox Sparrow singing at Long Pond, St. John's, Newfoundland

Anyone familiar with our "Red" Fox Sparrow who visits the West coast will have no trouble noticing the differences. The most common group out West is the "Sooty" Fox Sparrow which breeds as far away as the Pribilof islands in Alaska and as far South as Washington state. This group, as the name suggests, is significantly dark and lacks the intense red colouration of our Eastern Fox Sparrows.

Having seen the "Sooty" group of Fox Sparrows in BC over the years I knew there was no way of confusing our red ones for their sooty ones. But I never really thought of them as possible vagrants in the East. That was until Dave Shepherd, of Long Point Bird Observatory fame, reported a "Western" Fox Sparrow at his feeder in Portugal Cove South, Newfoundland. He and his wife, Julie, immediately knew that it was something different and took the time to observe and study the bird and concluded that it was of the "Sooty" group - which has been confirmed by various experts.

Here it is:

This is the breeding range of "Sooty" Fox Sparrows based on eBird reports:

And here is the wintering range of "Sooty" Fox Sparrows:

Definitely a group restricted to the coastal area West of the Rocky Mountains!

A closer look reveals that there are very few records of "Sooty" Fox Sparrow in the East, with the Newfoundland bird appearing in orange:

Quite possible a first record for Atlantic Canada!

Certainly, it is under-reported in the East since it doesn't have full species status, and feeder watchers (where a bird like this would show up) might pass it off as a regular sparrow. Perhaps this sighting will spur more interest in these Western Fox Sparrows and more records will be dug up or discovered.

The Portugal Cove South bird was first found during a harsh winter storm with winds gusting up to 130km/h. It could barely stand up and wasn't looking very healthy on its first day. But, thanks to a generous supply of seeds, it was back to full fitness today.

Look at those dark flanks! The streaking towards the back blurs into a sooty gray wash.

For those interested in the sub-species identification of this bird it has been suggested that it belongs to the fuliginosa sub-species by some, and the sinuosa/townsendi sub-species by others. Personally I don't know enough to make an opinion on this, and the resources I read provided very limited differences between these sub-species. Even online articles were inconclusive.

Like many species, the more Northern populations of Fox Sparrow migrate the furthest South, which makes them more susceptible to finding their way far off course. This would suggest that our bird may belong to one of the more Northern sub-species.

The undertail coverts of this Sooty Fox Sparrow were quite striking with a buffy/tan colour as the base, with chevron-shaped markings on each of the feathers. The "Red" Fox Sparrow, at best, has faint markings similar to these but often shows no discernible markings on the undertail coverts.

The "Sooty" Fox Sparrow really is a different beast. But just because it's different doesn't mean it should be its own species (although some people have already designated it as such). Drawing arbitrary lines is always difficult with highly variable species like the Fox Sparrow.

Some other random highlights from today:

This adult female Harrier was seen hunting the coast along the Cape Race road:

I've had an interest in studying these late December harriers in Newfoundland ever since the late Martin Garner put out some excellent books on the frontiers of bird identification with harrier as one of his favoured groups to study. The obvious hope, for me, is to turn one of our December harriers into a European Hen Harrier.

This is my first time getting good enough photos to study the finer details of a December harrier in Newfoundland. The outermost primary (P10) seems to have three dark bars, and P8 (the 3rd outermost primary) has 5 dark bars - both features suggesting Hen Harrier. But the neck streaking seems to strongly favour our regular Northern Harrier.

Definitely something I will be studying more keenly in the future.

And the continuing White-winged Dove in Renews: