Hurricane Sandy's Impact on New Jersey's Birds

That is the title of the lead article in "The Osprey", the newsletter of the Monmouth County Audubon Society.  Some interesting facts from the article:

• Since late October falls between the time when summer residents have migrated and most winter residents arrive, there should have been little direct impact on those populations.
• It is almost certain that the flooding tides caused mortality among rodent populations, thus reducing the prey base for wintering birds of prey.
• High winds stripped trees of fruit and seeds sending such wild bird staples as acorns, wild grape, poison ivy berries to the forest floor where snow and ice may put them out of reach.
• There may be an issue for cavity nesting species like woodpeckers if many of the dead standing trees went down in the storm.
• Coastal nesting habitat for endangered, beach nesting birds like Piping Plover, Least Tern, and Black Skimmer has been damaged in many places.