Wilma birds on Sable Island, October 2005.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo on Sable Island following Hurricane Wilma.

On the evening of October 25th, 2005, Hurricane Wilma passed 100 km south of Sable Island. During the afternoon and evening, winds gusted to 62 knots (115 km/hour) from the southeast, and backing to the east and northeast as the hurricane passed. As commonly happens on Sable Island, storm surge associated with the hurricane caused extensive flooding of the beaches. Thus it was not possible to travel much beyond the Station until October 29th. Most of the south beach remained inaccessible until November 1st. On the 29th a survey along the entire north shoreline, and inspection of the south sides of the west and east spits, revealed some unusual occurrences.

On Sable Island, as in mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, unusual bird sightings – large numbers of birds that otherwise occur regularly in small numbers, out-of-season birds, and/or a few rare birds - are sometimes attributed to the high winds of gales, tropical storms and hurricanes. Hurricanes “Donna” (September 1960), “Gladys” (October 1968), and “Bonnie” (August 1998) received particular mention in several accounts (e.g. McLaren 1981; Tufts 1986; Birders Journal 1998). In 2002, birds found on Sable Island after a few days of heavy winds and rain brought by a mid-October tropical storm, included a Yellow-crowned Night-heron, a Green Heron, a Little Blue Heron, a Snowy Egret, and a Great Egret. During the same period, a Great Blue Heron and an unusual number of Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes turned up.

A windfall of large numbers of unusual birds in the wake of Hurricane Wilma generated a great deal of interest in Atlantic Canada. Species sighted include Magnificent Frigatebirds, Laughing Gulls, Caspian, Royal, Sandwich and Forster’s Terns, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos. There were similar sightings (albeit in smaller numbers) on Sable Island. Some of the birds noted on the island in the days after the hurricane, might have been here beforehand.  For example, a group of six Northern Shovelers seen feeding at the West Ponds on the 31st, had not been sighted before the storm, but could have been missed. However, this species is uncommon on Sable Island (only two reports, of one and three birds, during the last 35 years).

The list below provides numbers of birds sighted after Hurricane Wilma. However, since it is likely that many were not seen - some birds sought refuge inland on the vegetated dunes (e.g. Yellow-billed Cuckoos), or left the island during the days before the beaches were surveyed (e.g. terns and gulls) - the actual numbers of storm-driven birds on Sable Island was no doubt far greater.

*For three species, one or two additional corpses were found, but not included in the totals above because they may have been individuals previously seen alive. Total corpse numbers for these species are: 3 Caspian Terns; 3 Yellow-billed Cuckoos; and 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

All dead birds, intact and otherwise, were collected and frozen, and will be deposited at the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax.

Click on thumbnails for more information

Laughing Gull on the north beach of Sable Island following Hurricane Wilma.