But how is it so dramatic. How many total are east of Pt. Angeles? Brown
Pellies have come into the sound before, though not quite so many as this
year, and is there any evidence that there are any more of them in
Washington/BC waters this year than has been the case most years since their
recovery in the late 1970s? I lived in Washington from 1972 to 1978 before I
saw my first Washington Brown Pelly. That, however, was not due to El Nin~o
but to el DDTo.

Gene Hunn.

At 08:23 PM 10/14/97 -0700, you wrote:
>
>
>On Mon, 13 Oct 1997, Michael Kennedy wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know about the population status over the last few years
>> on the Washington coast? Is this possibly as much the continuation
>> of range expansion, as it is El Nino?
>
>Between at least 1986 and 1996 thousands of Brown Pelicans could be
>expected to show up in late summer each year on the Washington coast.
>The mouth of the Columbia River, Willapa Bay, and Grays Harbor were the
>main concentration areas though flocks could easily be observed along
>the coast north of Grays Harbor, in places like Kalaloch Beach and
>at Willoughby Rock. This pattern of late summer/early fall abundance
>on Washington's southern coast seemed pretty consistent during this
>period. This year, a dramatic change is evident.
>
>I think your questions are excellent ones. I was questioned by a KOMO
>news reporter on this very issue. They wanted some "authorative"
>words to go with their film footage of Brown Pelicans on Blakely Rock
>off Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound. I told the reporter it was an
>unusual year. The reporter asked why. I said many people believe it
>is because of warm surface water conditions, the El Nino condition.
>"The fish that Brown Pelicans prefer to eat are likely more
>broadly distributed in these northern waters and so the pelicans follow",
>I said without a hint of faking my answer. The reporter asked me what
>these fishes were and I then admitted I didn't really know (feeling
>of stupidity sweeps over me).
>
>Now interested to know the answers, I started asking others and heard
>that anchovies were apparently being found in large numbers further
>north than usual.
>
>We may not know the answers to your questions (for sure) until several
>more years go by so we can see how pelicans distribute themselves
>under more normal sea suface conditions.
>
>However, for me, I still think it's El Nino.
>
>Kelly McAllister
>
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