Warmer temperatures, and the high point of a 40-year cycle of hurricane activity, have resulted in a string of storms across the tropical Atlantic that looks like birders lining up for a squint through a scope at something special. Hurricane Gustav mercifully wrought less destruction than was feared, and is now sputtering out along the Mississippi valley. You can check out the Arkansas Birding List on-line to read about frigatebirds, sooty terns, cave swallows, etc. now being reported there. Perhaps Missouri is due for some visitors from the south next. Here in Ohio, we are lucky enough that hurricanes usually mean only some inconvenient weather. For birders, they bring the promise of rarities. With the exception of an odd spring record from 1880, all our frigatebird records come from hurricane season, as does our only sooty tern. Both these species are especially prone to displacement by hurricanes. Frigatebirds have weak feet, and are seldom seen on the ground when healthy; sooty terns, as far as is known, may spend years as immature birds without intentionally touching down; adults resort to the earth only when nesting. Other highly aerial species, such as other tern species, swallows, storm-petrels, shearwaters, etc., may show up under such conditions. Ohioans pretty much missed the bounty of pelagic species found in neighboring states and provinces, some of them only a few miles away, in 1996 when the remnants of Hurricane Fran passed through. We were readier for Hurricane Dennis in 2005, when Don Morse watched for, and eventually found, a sooty tern at East Fork Lake. Most of the odd pelagic species on the Ohio list were found between July and November. I doubt our three wood storks came to Ohio courtesy of hurricane winds. Wood storks are great soarers, but like most birds their reaction to vicious winds is to hunker down, rather than ride them, as pelagic birds do. Most likely their appearance was part of the post-breeding- season wandering southern waders often undertake. This stormy season could bring some very interesting birds to Ohio. The secret of increasing the odds of finding them is easy enough: familiarize yourself with the likelier storm-driven species, and be alert for them, then if a hurricane, probably reduced to a depression, passes through, go out in the rain to a good-sized body of water, especially one with a sand or mud shoreline, and look for them. And send a check to disaster relief. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]