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Floyd birds in New Bern, NC



Its been an interesting day.  The "eye" of Floyd passed thru New Bern around
7-8 am this morning. We were under a county-wide curfew until noon today, but
was able to slip out and check the Neuse River for about 15 minutes during 
the eye's passage (I live about a half mile from the river).  I saw no birds
during this visit. This spot is about 4 mi down-river (SE) from New Bern.  I
just talked with Bob Holmes who lives on the Trent River about 2 mi up-river
(SW) of its juntion with the Neuse River.  (New Bern sits at the junction of
these two rivers.) He was able to keep watch on the Trent River from inside his
home.  During the eye's passage he saw no birds as well. What birds we did
see came later after the winds picked back up (and sifted to the west).  It
seems that they were trying to fight their way out of the eye-wall by flying
directly into the strong winds.

The winds never completely died out during the "eye" but they were very mild
compared to the "before and after".  It remained overcast and drizzled
throughout the eye. 

Things were pretty tough for a couple of hours after the eye went through,
but I decided to return to the Neuse River and stayed there from 10-12 noon.
There were dozens of terns moving- mostly Forster's, but several Commons,
Caspians, and Royals flew by- mostly heading up-river (west) into the wind.
I did manage to pick out a Wilson's Storm-Petrel and a Black Skimmer trying
to fight the winds. 

About 11:30 the winds were starting to die down somewhat and I spotted a Cory's
Shearwater arching his way down-river.  This was the only bird that moved
predominately down-river (with the wind) while I was there. When the wind
would calm down for several minutes between hard gusts, I could see large
flocks of terns (unidentifed- probably Forster's/Commons) moving out from
sheltered coves on the far side of the river (about 2 mi wide). Shortly
after the eye's passage, Bob found an unidentified gadfly petrel bucking the
wind, then about an hour later a handful of Bridled Terns flew by his Trent
River location.

In the early afternoon, we both checked out a lake in town that used to be a
rock quarry. We saw at least one Bridled Tern, three Sooty Terns, a Black
Tern, four Skimmers, and a Willet.  Bob checked a couple of flooded fields
that have had decent numbers of shorebirds in past storms, but came up empty.

We consider ourselves quite fortunate because damage locally was a lot less
than predicted. We were able to get phones and power back on here late this
afternoon, but a lot of folks here don't have either.  The big thing around
eastern NC this time is the rain and the floods that it has produced.  A
friend of Bob's in Seven Springs, NC had to empty his rain guage (that holds
7 inches) twice.  He figured they got over 16" of rain.  Many roads are
underwater- so I'll be interested to see if anybody from upstate was able to
get to eastern NC sites to look for storm-blown birds.

Wade Fuller
103 Little Rossie Dr
New Bern, NC  28560
fuller@coastalnet.com