We were so incredibly lucky with Hurricane Ian. Our prayers go out to those on the barrier islands whose homes were destroyed, and to our friends in eastern Orlando whose homes were flooded. Thankfully, the worst damage sustained by our families was downed trees and yard debris.

I have to share about some “evacuees” that we hosted during the storm. A male Black-throated Blue Warbler turned up the morning after the storm. He spent the day hopping back and forth between my heavily-trimmed hummingbird bushes (yep, I’m glad I trimmed those bushes a few weeks ago!). The conditions weren’t great for a picture, so here’s a Black-throated Blue from my archives…

Then a few minutes later, I looked out to see my first-of-fall Gray Catbird hanging out near the feeders. Just like the Painted Buntings from my last post, he’s a few weeks early. Not that I’m complaining! Hopefully his beautyberries survived the storm. They smelled a little rotten to me, kinda like wine – maybe that’s just what this bird needed after a migration through Ian!

Long-time readers of my blog will know that I’m fascinated by bird migration. I would love to know what was going through these birds’ minds as they flew south and found themselves in the middle of a hurricane. I’m guessing that their birdie GPS was repeatedly advising “at the next safe location, make a U-turn!”