Hi all,
A question has occurred to me with Cyclone Yasi bearing down on Cairns and
Townsville. Does anyone know what migratory shorebirds do when Cyclones are
on their way? Do they move inland, or try and ride it out at their normal
roosts? I'd particularly be interested in any research/papers on the
subject, but would also love to hear peoples' observations if anyone has
seen something firsthand.
My own personal experience with this is from Broome. We observed shorebirds
during migration season in 2005. In late March a cyclone formed in the
Coral Sea, and around the same time birds in Broome stopped migrating. A
week later and the cyclone had moved all the way across the top end and hit
the Kimberley. It wasn't til after the wild weather died down that the
shorebirds started leaving again. We had 10,000 shorebirds go the day after
the cyclone finally fizzled out! So in my mind they clearly can work out
when a cyclone is headed their way, but I have no idea what birds directly
in the path of a monster like Yasi would do.
Regards,
Chris
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