For many birds in the Virgin Islands, surviving the winds of Hurricane Irma was just the beginning.
In the weeks after a storm like Irma, smaller birds that can’t fly away often starve.
“The forest comes back pretty quickly, but it still takes several weeks, and in the case of little birds like hummingbirds that can’t survive even a day without food, a few weeks is too long,” Mr. Petrovic said.
Such pressures were probably responsible for the unusually low number of birds Mr. Petrovic spotted during this year’s Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 30.
“In recent years the numbers have been pretty stable, but the numbers are way down as I expected this year,” Mr. Petrovic said.
The ecologist added that he recalls a similar phenomenon after Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
“The important thing is habitats recover, and when habitats recover so do the populations,” he explained.
Christmas count
The international bird count is organised here by the National Parks Trust, which, like other agencies around the world, sends the results to the National Audubon Society, a United States-based non-profit organisation dedicated to conserving birds and their environments. The NAS has records of VI counts reaching back to 1988.
This year, the number of participants was down from the usual 10-15, in part because many of the usual volunteers left after Hurricane Irma, according to NPT Deputy Director Nancy Woodfield-Pascoe.
In fact, she said, Mr. Petrovic and a Great Camanoe woman may have been the only birders to take part this year.
Useful numbers
For the count, Tortola is used as the centre of a 15-mile circle within which volunteers divide up the island and tally as many birds as they can. Though they of course don’t find every bird, the consistency of doing an annual count provides useful scientific data, according to organisers.
And because birds are often the first to react to changes in ecosystems, Mr. Petrovic explained, such information helps identify trends that can reflect the overall health of the environment.
Birdwatching route
Mr. Petrovic, who has taken part in the count since the 1980s, said that his usual route begins at his Chalwell home.
From there, he drives along the Ridge Road, down to Huntums Ghut, and along Road Harbour, stopping along the way at mangroves and other bird habitats that he has come to know well.
Then he heads as far west as the mangrove patch near Tonic’s Bar in Duffs Bottom.
“That’s always a good place for water birds,” Mr. Petrovic said. “That’s the only place I know where I find least greebs regularly; I didn’t find them this year.”
After that, he drives east, stopping at Paraquita Bay, Beef Island and Josiahs Bay — where he counted 38 flamingos that he believes flew over from Necker Island or Anegada — before returning home on the Ridge Road, hoping to spot an owl as evening falls.
A separate count is typically held on Anegada shortly after the December count, but it has been postponed until later this month, and the results won’t be included in the Audubon project.
Ms. Woodfield-Pascoe encouraged residents to get involved in birdwatching year-round.
“Be observant and get in touch,” she said, adding that interesting bird photos can be posted to Facebook on the “BVI Birds” page or the NPT page.
Such efforts, she said, are particularly important after a major storm like Irma.
“The organisers at Audubon … e-mailed me right after the hurricane and said ‘It’s going to be so important to do the bird count here,’” she said.
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