Viral spread: “Hurricane Irene Damage Ruins NC Waterfowl Refuge. Waterfowl not coming.”

 THE ORGINAL REPORT:

Five months ago, Hurricane Irene ripped a 200-foot hole in the pond’s west end and drained it, leaving an oval of mucky sand. Now, the pond comes and goes with the tide, and the lack of a consistent water level has prevented the waterfowl from landing and feeding. Coupled with an uncharacteristically warm winter that could have prevented birds from migrating as far south, it has meant a huge drop in the number of birds, Stewart said.

“If we see 300 birds in here total, waterfowl and non-waterfowl, we feel pretty lucky,” he said, gazing at the expanse of sand. He can’t recall seeing a swan in the pond all winter.

The 5,800-acre wildlife refuge on the north end of the island, managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is known as a birders’ paradise. Almost 3 million people venture here each year, many to spy rare migratory fowl like Redhead ducks in the winter and shore birds in the summer. Pedestrians with telescopes over their shoulders are common winter sights along N.C. 12.

Birding groups and other visitors have still come, but they are concerned about the breach and its impact on the refuge.

“But Stewart reassures birders the fowl will return. He hopes to patch the breach, which is up to 14 feet deep in some spots, by the end of March, which will give aquatic vegetation, a food source, time to grow.

He’ll also have to replace pipes that allowed biologists to control the water in the pond and the structure that housed the water pump. Those were destroyed during the hurricane as well.  The cost estimate is holding up the process, Stewart said. He figures it will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The preserve does have funding in place to start the project, he said.

The repairs come as good news to birder Meredith Bell, who has come to Pea Island for the past five years with a group from the Virginia Society of Ornithology. On their most recent trip, Bell said, they spent most of their time at the preserve’s other two ponds. And despite the barren North Pond, its members saw spectacular sights – including half a dozen white-chested razorbills. These penguinlike auks spend their lives on the open ocean and come ashore only to nest. They’re so rare that few people ever encounter one. Bell said, “Those are life birds for most people.”

Unfortunately the one line that reverberated across the web was:

 Migrating water birds that find refuge on North Carolina’s Outer Banks are not coming this year, in part because of damage from Hurricane Irene.