Panhandle shorebirds get gift from Sally
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Hurricane Sally commanded the Gulf of Mexico to rise last month. Storm surge purged entire miles of vegetation along the Panhandle’s coastlines, according to preliminary assessments.
Though it’s a grave for destroyed wild plants, the pearly smooth sand left behind has an upside: It presents perfect nesting sites for the region’s shorebirds.
Six Florida counties reported dune and beach erosion to the Department of Environmental Protection, spokeswoman Alexandra Kuchta said. Shorelines sustained damages as far east as Gulf County, a four-hour drive from Hurricane Sally’s landfall. Impact severity ramped up closer to the state’s border with Alabama: Walton, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Escambia counties all reported areas with critical beach damage.
Some impacted plots amount to only a couple of acres. Others are too expansive for officials to estimate their breadth yet, including within portions of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Dunes in a trio of the park’s sections – the Fort Pickens, Perdido Key and Santa Rosa areas – were intermittently flattened by the storm, said Kelly Irick, the park’s natural resource manager. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration captured these breaches via satellite images, which show some park sections once claimed by vegetation and dunes that are now reduced to white balloons of open sand.
Though destructive, this natural process creates perfect habitats for shorebirds, Audubon Florida project manager Caroline Stahala said. Exposed sandy areas give species nesting space and eliminate hiding spots for beach predators like raccoons and feral cats.
“These sorts of tropical storms are beneficial to the habitat for these birds, which of course is a huge component of their natural history,” she said. “You certainly want that cycle of habitat overwash to create this white sand habitat. It’s a dynamic system.”
However, timing is everything. If a hurricane takes place during nesting season, which spans from February to September in Florida, populations will sustain more negative impacts. Hurricane Cristobal wiped out 50% of Audubon Florida’s monitored nests this summer, Stahala said.
“Since Hurricane Sally occurred after the breeding season was complete, these impacts were avoided,” said Nick Vitale, a northwest regional shorebird biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “However, hurricanes also have the potential to negatively impact adult birds in the area and even reduce the breeding population in the region after the storm.”
Navarre Beach Marine Park, one of the most diverse shorebird locations in Santa Rosa, emerged from the hurricane with two acres of exposed sand, Stahala said. Nearby, on the Navarre Beach Causeway, she reported another acre of scoured vegetation. Altogether, she estimated that Sally impacted 10 areas she monitors for Audubon Florida – and said she hopes these transformed areas host nesting sites come spring.
But even these seemingly ideal habitats won’t necessarily be home to chicks and eggs next breeding season. Shorebird populations have generally stayed stagnant or decreased throughout the years, Stahala said, so there might not be enough breeding birds to fill these new open areas.
“We’re seeing declines, and a lot of it is habitat-related,” she said about the shorebird populations. “We’re not seeing improvements.”
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.