How Do Hurricanes Affect Birds?

Birds and hurricanes have always had an annual life-and-death struggle. Survival has never come easy for birds, be they migratory land birds, shorebirds or birds that spend most of their time over open water. But some years are especially treacherous, especially for migratory land birds on their journey from breeding grounds in North America to winter homes in the tropics.
In 2017, for example, two of the most powerful storms ever recorded impacted the birds’ eastern flyway, the path that takes them through Florida, and their central flyway through Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. This year, Hurricane Dorian not only sat over the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm but also continues to push birds on the eastern flyway further inland.