Date: 8/30/26 9:05 am From: Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] El Niño effects
Well, to add to what I wrote before, we spent yesterday at the outer coast and saw what I considered completely normal numbers of Brown Pelicans and Heermann’s Gulls. I wish I could send photos to tweeters of the enormous roosting flocks we found of both species on the beach at the end of the Warrenton Cannery Road and the very active feeding flocks of the two species (plus alcids and other gulls) off the Westport Marina. I have never seen that many pelicans feeding at once in Grays Harbor, and hopefully they were successful!
On the downside, we found no Elegant Terns or boobies to admire.
Dennis Paulson
Seattle
> On Aug 29, 2026, at 8:32 PM, Bob Boekelheide <bboek...> wrote:
>
> 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.
>
> https://www.integratedecosystemassessment.noaa.gov/regions/california-current/california-current-marine-heatwave-tracker-blobtracker <https://www.integratedecosystemassessment.noaa.gov/regions/california-current/california-current-marine-heatwave-tracker-blobtracker> >
> Prepare to meet your doom...
>
> Bob Boekelheide
> Dungeness
>
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> 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.
>
> Steve Hampton
> Port Townsend, WA (qatáy)
>
> From: HAL MICHAEL via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> > Subject: Re: [Tweeters] El Niño effects
> Date: August 28, 2026 at 6:24:35 PM PDT
> To: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson...> <mailto:<dennispaulson...>>, Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> > Reply-To: HAL MICHAEL <ucd880...> <mailto:<ucd880...>> >
>
> 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
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