Storm surges wipe out Florida birds' nests

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. - Storm surges from Hurricane Dennis flooded or washed away most of the nesting sites of a struggling bird species on Florida's Gulf Coast, state wildlife officials said.

Black skimmers don't typically leave their beach colonies so early in the hurricane season, said Ricardo Zambrano, a regional non-game biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Normally, these birds leave before the hurricane season really heats up," he said.

The black skimmer is a species of special concern in Florida, where the black and white bird has lost most of its beach habitat to development.

Wildlife officials said most of the nests from Marco Island, 15 miles southeast of Naples, to the Panhandle were lost.

The largest colony had been at Marco Island, with about 500 pairs of the birds nesting on a narrow strip of sand. Adult skimmers survived the storm, but about three-quarters of the nests were lost and only about 48 chicks survived in higher areas, officials said.

On Sand Key, off Clearwater Beach, 72 young skimmers climbed to safety on dunes behind high-rise condominiums.

"The chicks were big enough that they could get up and move out of harm's way, and the beach was wide enough that they had some place to retreat to," said Nancy Douglass, a regional non-game biologist for the commission.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

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