Date: 8/29/26 8:40 pm From: Bob Boekelheide via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] El Niño effects
You may have also heard that Southern California and Baja California have experienced extreme marine heat wave conditions since last year, akin to the “Blob” here in 2014-2015. Even prior to the development of the upcoming El Nino, sea surface temperatures at the Scripps Pier in La Jolla have set numerous high-temperature records this spring and summer. Numbers of pelicans, alcids, cormorants, and other birds have been found dead on SoCal beaches. It sounds pretty bleak. Breeding seabirds in the Gulf of California were right in the eye of the marine heat wave during the last nesting season.
There's also a large marine heat wave lurking offshore right now in the north Pacific, as discussed on the NOAA marine heatwave tracker site. Again, this is before the predicted strong El Nino even gets going.
From: Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> Subject: [Tweeters] El Niño effects
Date: August 28, 2026 at 12:02:35 PM PDT
To: TWEETERS tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> Reply-To: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson...> <mailto:<dennispaulson...>>
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
From: Steve Hampton via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] El Niño effects
Date: August 28, 2026 at 12:10:30 PM PDT
To: TWEETERS tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> Reply-To: Steve Hampton <stevechampton...> <mailto:<stevechampton...>>
We have our usual ~400 Heermann's up here in Port Townsend this summer. No juveniles at all. I went thru 380 birds this morning -- all adults and a dozen or so 2nd cycles.
We did have a small surge of Brown Pelicans in early summer. I think over a dozen photographed on the beach at once in Port Townsend. Again, no juveniles. They've not hung around.
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.
