On our first day in Florida, a line of powerful thunderstorms pushed across the Gulf of Mexico. By the following morning, the tail of this front lingered near Sarasota, producing dense fog across Longboat Key and the other barrier islands. Visibility was limited on our walk along the beach but not enough to obscure my view of long-winged sea birds, flapping and gliding just above the waves. Several flocks passed by, moving southward less than 30 yards offshore.
These uncommon visitors were Cory's shearwaters, likely pushed toward the coast by the strong cold front and its massive storms. Over the next few days, numerous gannets appeared off Longboat Key, diving for fish with the various terns and brown pelicans; after breeding on the rocky, offshore islands of northeast Canada, gannets winter on the open ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico, and are seen near the coast after storms or during migrations.
Sea birds are especially vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. While terrestrial birds can wait our storms in sheltered areas, these marine species have no place to hide and attempt to escape the path of oncoming storms. As a result, they often turn up in unexpected areas and, at any give site, their numbers may vary dramatically from week to week; occasionally caught up in hurricances, they may even appear far from the sea, settling down to rest and get their bearings on inland lakes.
