Birders in TX, OK, AR, MO, IL, IN, and OH - watch the skies over your lakes!

[semillama]

While Hurricane Ike is going to be horrible in terms of damage and human lives lost, birders know that the silver lining to hurricanes that sweep through the gulf and then head north is the amount of rare birds that go along for the ride. Hurricane Ike's project path puts it in Toledo, Ohio early Monday morning as a tropical depression. Ohio's first and only Sooty Tern record was after a similar hurricane passed by three years ago.

So, if you live in the path of Ike as it passes through your state, it would be worth it to scan the skies over your major bodies of water for lost pelagics like frigatebirds, sooty terns, storm-petrels and shearwaters!

[livetohike]

1. Great tip!

Thanks semillama :hi:. I doubt we'll get anything here in western PA, but maybe....

[semillama]

2. Well, Western PA isn't out of the picture

especially if you live in NW PA and can get to Lake Erie!

[Maestro]

3. I was on the side with north winds.

It blew in a yellow warbler which I have never seen in my area in 8 years. Even got pics.

[tigereye]

4. always love to see your pix, maestro

sadly I have seen very few warblers around here- I probably don't look in the right places...

[semillama]

5. Doesn't seem like there was too much of an effect from Ike

We had one frigatebird sighting here in Ohio. there was a report of Sabine's Gulls that might have been blown over here as well.

There's some weird bird showing up in Illinois that might include birds blown up from the south (Roseate Spoonbill) or western migrants that somehow ended up east (Mountain Plover). Indiana had nothing confirmed.

[XemaSab]

6. The Sabine's gulls might just be on their southward migration

:shrug:

[semillama]

7. True, but we normally don't get them this early in Ohio

and usually only one at a time! But, there haven't been any Franklin's Gull reports either, so maybe there's not a storm effect for the gulls.