When I watch news reports on hurricanes like Katrina, amid the destruction and misery of the human world, I also think about what is happening to the birds that live in that area.

Pelagic (ocean-going) birds spend most of their lives flying over the ocean. They seldom come in close enough for us to get a look at them, so if you want to see them, you need to go out "on a pelagic," as birders say -- that is, a trip on a boat. Examples of these birds are petrels, frigatebirds,, jaegers, skimmers, skua, and some terns. The south Atlantic is an area well-populated with these pelagics.

What happens to them when a powerful hurricane like Katrina blows into their world? Many die. Others are blown around and if they are strong enough fliers to get away from the wind and survive, end up far from home. Birders who have been around long enough to have experienced the effects of hurricanes in the past know to watch for these blown-away birds landing on inland rivers and lakes. Katrina is a very powerful hurricane and besides destroying many pelagic birds, is hurling others up the Mississippi flyway. Tennessee birders are reporting Sooty Tern, Black Skimmer, Storm-Petrel, Magnificant Frigatebird, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Skua, all in the past few days. Birders as far north as Minnesota are staking out likely bodies of water this week, watching for these tired pelagics to appear.

What's in store for those birds that have now become displaced as far north as Minnesota or Tennessee, to a place they aren’t familiar with? They won’t remain in the new territory; their lifestyle is ocean-specific, as their fore-birdfathers' and mothers' was, and they cannot adapt to life away from the open water. If they are able to find food, they can rest, eat, and recoup their energies, and hopefully be able to find their way back to the ocean. If they are too weak, injured, or disoriented, or cannot find the right food, they will probably just die.