[Tweeters] Question about Arrival Time for BRown PElicans at Westport, WA - April 8th

[Bob Boekelheide via Tweeters]

Hi CJ and Tweeters,

Two days ago (4/16/25), a group of us also saw 40 Brown Pelicans flying low over the waves to the north past Cape Flattery, and other pelicans roosting on Tatoosh Island in the evening.  The odd thing is the ones we could see well with scopes looked to be adults, which should be in the middle of nesting right now in Mexico or California.  

Here is an article about pelicans having trouble right now with toxic algae blooms and domoic acid in California, causing deaths of adults and and nesting failures this nesting season.  Curiously, there may even be a connection to the big wildfires and subsequent mudslides down there, causing run-off of nutrients into coastal waters, adding to the algae bloom.

 https://phys.org/news/2025-04-adult-pelicans-falling-victim-toxic.html

Maybe a connection to the pelicans showing up early here?

Bob Boekelheide
Dungeness



> On Apr 16, 2025, at 12:03 PM, via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> 

> From: cj flick via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>>

> Subject: [Tweeters] Question about Arrival Time for BRown PElicans at Westport, WA - April 8th

> Date: April 16, 2025 at 10:57:54 AM PDT

> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Reply-To: cj flick <ke7qbi at gmail.com <mailto:ke7qbi at gmail.com>>

> 

> 

> What is the usual arrival date for BRown PElicans in March or April each Year?  We thought our sight record on April 8th was on the early side.

> 

> CJ Flick / White Salmon, WA

> 


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