Date: 8/28/26 6:35 pm From: HAL MICHAEL via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] El Niño effects
haven't been to the coast a lot but, yeah, it seems to be fewer pelicans and Heermans. The "biggest" change is almost no Heermans up at Westport. Normally, quite a few.
Is it possible that they had a nesting failure and the population pressure up the coast is just not enough to push them up here.
Hal Michael
Olympia WA
360-459-4005
360-791-7702 (C)
<ucd880...>
> On 08/28/2026 12:02 PM PDT Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...> wrote:
>
>
> Hello tweets,
>
> I’m sure most of you have heard about the unparalleled irruption of Elegant Terns into our coastal waters, and maybe you know about the three species of boobies that are in our state at present. They are presumably fleeing extremely poor feeding conditions off of western Mexico because of El Niño.
>
> But I have noticed something quite odd about this year, the lower-than-usual numbers of Brown Pelicans and Heermann’s Gulls in our waters. We have consistently seen fewer than expected numbers of both of these species in trips to the outer coast, and that seems very odd.
>
> I think of both of these southern species as making long flights to the Pacific Northwest each summer to take advantage of our more productive waters. So why aren’t they here in even greater numbers this summer?
>
> So I’m curious to find out if others have noticed this as well.
>
> Dennis Paulson
> Seattle
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> <Tweeters...>
> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters _______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list <Tweeters...> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
