An update that might be of interest.
And a recent paper on eagles and seabirds (eagles are also an important predator at Yaquina Head):UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: HOW THE RECOVERY OF SEA EAGLEHALIAEETUS SPP. POPULATIONS IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHEREIS AFFECTING SEABIRDShttp://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/40_1/40_1_39-52.pdf
And a bird report:A western gull on the old Tahlequah dock on Vashon this morning - dark enough that several non birders asked what it was.

Gary Shugart, Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma and Vashon Island


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Suryan, Rob - FW" <rob.suryan at oregonstate.edu>
> Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 11:11:55 -0700
> Subject: Yaquina Head murre update
>...
>
> Hi All,
> We've had an interesting and unpredictable summer studying seabirds on
> the Oregon coast.
> On Friday July 13th, there were 85 chicks remaining of the 213 nests
> we monitored on Colony and Flat top Rocks at Yaquina Head. Then, on
> Monday July 16th at 5:20PM, we observed the arrival of juvenile
> California brown pelicans. These disruptive young pelicans, which
> numbered 1-10 individuals at any given time cleared 10-90% of each
> rock. By the next morning, Tuesday July 17th there were only 18
> chicks left in our plots. The young pelicans continued disturbing the
> colony through the week and by Friday, July 20th, there were no chicks
> left in our plots. Pelican disturbances continued through the weekend
> and few murre chicks remained on either Colony or Flat top rocks.
> The pelican disturbances involved walking and flapping wings through
> all sections of Flat top and Colony Rocks, the juvenile pelicans were
> able to clear away adult murres, thereby gaining access to fish
> remains and chicks on these breeding sites. We observed juvenile
> pelicans eating chicks, shaking chicks until they regurgitated fish
> meals and then discarding the chicks to eat the fish, and eating any
> fish parts that were on the rocks. Additionally, the prolonged and
> widespread disturbances allowed increased access for gulls and
> corvids, which ate their fill of unattended murre chicks. Finally, in
> the frenzy of activity related to the pelicans' movements, untold
> numbers of murre chicks were pushed from the rocks prematurely. Many
> drowned or were pummeled by rough surf, while unattended by an adult
> on the ocean.
> In the following days, we conducted chick carcass walks from the base
> of Yaquina Head to the north jetty in Newport and counted 350 chick
> carcasses on 7/18 and 324 chick carcasses on 7/20.
> Without accounting for the pelican disturbances, it appears that
> reproductive success for the Yaquina Head colony is around 28% of
> pairs successfully raising chicks to 15 days of age (potential
> fledging age). There was, however, considerable variation among
> plots, ranging from 0 to 63%, with average reproductive success
> greater at Flat top (41%) than Colony Rock (16%). Reproductive
> success overall was slightly greater than last year, but much lower
> than 2007-2010.
> We also noticed similar pelican disturbances during the same week on
> the south coast around Coquille Point in Bandon. Carcass walks at this
> site yielded upwards of 300 dead murre chicks on the beaches near Face
> Rock by the end of the week. We are still summarizing data from this
> site, but it appears that fewer chicks may have been lost to pelican
> disturbances compared to the central coast, because more chicks had
> fledged prior to the pelican disturbance events at the south coast
> site.
> In other news, we also are following Brandt's and pelagic cormorants
> at Yaquina Head. As of last week, 14 of the 16 pelagic cormorant nests
> had eggs, while about half of the 28 Brandt's had chicks and the other
> half had eggs. For comparison, in 2011 we followed 7 PECO and 95 BRCO
> nests- so this season marks an increase in PECO and a decrease in BRCO
> numbers at Yaquina Head.
> We will continue to send updates as new information becomes available
> and would appreciate hearing about any similar events involving
> pelican disturbances at other sites.
> Thanks,
> Cheryl Horton
> Sheena Wheeler
> Cherry Alexander
> Emma Nelson
> Rob Suryan
>
> The Seabird Oceanography Lab
> Hatfield Marine Science Center
> Oregon State University
>
>