Hurricane Bonnie/OC Inlet-08/28/98
MHoff36100@aol.com
Fri, 28 Aug 1998 21:48:52 EDT
Hurricane Chasers --
With tropical storm Bonnie off the VA and MD coasts today (08/28/98), it was
an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I arrived at the OC Inlet at 6 am and
stayed there until 2 pm, occupying the southeast parking spot, from which I
could view the Inlet and Ocean protected from the strong wind, blowing sand
and intermittent rain. Despite the clouds and heavy surf, it never got too
ominous. Heavy rain occurred between 0830-0840 and 0900-0920. When I left, the
sun was coming out. There was a steady stream of onlookers and police for
crowd control.
Birds by hour 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 Total
Jaeger (sp.) 1 1
Laughing Gull 200 150 100 40 50 x x x 540
Ring-billed Gull 80 x 2 5 x x x x 90
Herring Gull 30 20 20 10 20 x x x 100
Great Blk.-b. Gull 30 10 x 10 10 x x x 60
Caspian Tern 15 10 4 3 1 33
Royal Tern 10 10 10 5 10 5 x x 50
Sandwich Tern 2 2 1 1 6 (or less)
Common Tern 10 5 20 45 25 30 x x 135
Forster's Tern 2 1 1 4
Black Tern 2 3 2 2 1 10
Black Skimmer 2 3 5
The only obvious storm bird was the jaeger, a very distant bird. There was no
real movement of these gulls and terns, some where going in and out of the
Inlet, others headed N or S offshore. Local or fly-by shorebirds were Semi
Plover (1); Black-bellied Plover (1); Sanderling (50+); Ruddy Turnstone (2).
There was a steady stream of Barn Swallows (50) and Purple Martins (20) headed
N over the ocean or the Inlet. The only other passerine was Rock Dove (4).
Hope others had better luck!
Mark Hoffman
Sykesville, MD
Mhoff36100@aol.com