Coastal hailstorms over the Nov. 1 weekend killed or injured more than 2,000 birds, mostly brown pelicans, in what researchers say is the largest reported avian mortality event from a hailstorm in North America in decades.
According to the Harte Research Institute, more than 1,600 brown pelicans, and 400 birds of nine other species, including the threatened reddish egret, red knot and piping plover, were killed or severely injured on rookery islands in Corpus Christi Bay and near Baffin Bay.
“Pock marks in the mud left behind by hailstones indicated their size, and photos of mudflats showed roughly a foot between impact marks, meaning medium and large birds had little chance of escaping unscathed,” said Dr. Dale Gawlik, HRI’s James A. “Buddy” Davidson Endowed Chair for Conservation and Biodiversity, in a report posted on its website. “Most management efforts to protect birds focus on minimizing human impacts, such as disturbance or habitat changes, but this is a reminder that birds have to deal with all those human activities and natural events such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, hailstorms and more.”…