Around 2,000 seabirds have washed ashore in California. Is intense El Niño reshaping marine life along the Pacific Coast?

Pacific Wildlife Care in Morro Bay, south of Cayucos, has treated a record number of seabirds this year, the highest in its 40-year history. But why is there a sudden spike in these cases? Earlier this year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that the increase in the deaths of seabirds is not due to avian flu but starvation.

But the bigger question is: why are seabirds suddenly starving to death in the Pacific Ocean?

The El Niño phenomenon has multiplied the impact of climate change this year. As a result, the water in the Pacific Ocean is warmer. Scientists recently reported that temperatures in Monterey Bay, also on the Central Coast, were 13 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average. It is predicted that this scenario may intensify this winter.


Scientists say the animals are struggling to survive in waters that have become much too warm, NYT reports.

Since September, rangers have found over 1,900 dead seabirds, while around 700 needed medical assistance, as per reports. In comparison, they found only 120 sick and dead birds at the same time of year.

Julia Parrish, a researcher at the University of Washington and the founder of Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, which trains beachgoers to track marine mortality along the Pacific shore, told National Geographic, “Now we have evidence that extreme and persistent climate events can even push a large swath of a common population to the edge.”

Parrish added that they didn't think that they would have to worry about common murres because they're native to the region, "And yet here we are, worrying about them.”

“They’re arriving in really poor condition. Many are severely emaciated,” says Kelley Boland, PWC’s development coordinator.

“When a bird has gone without adequate food for a prolonged period, the effects go beyond weight loss and can include serious impacts on organ function.”

National Geographic further reports that researchers see this picture as a smaller part of a broader issue happening across the Pacific Ocean due to the El Niño phenomenon.

"The ecological shifts have rippled across the latitude lines: warm-water sea turtles have nested on Southern California beaches, disoriented dolphins have ended up deep inside the Morro Bay estuary, and now starving murres are washing ashore by the hundreds," say researchers.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) confirmed on March 27, 2026, that it has been investigating increased reports of debilitated and dead seabirds on California beaches. The agency has found starvation to be the primary cause of increased mortalities in California seabirds.

JD Bergeron, CEO of International Bird Rescue, a Bay Area-based wildlife hospital that has treated hundreds of birds this year, told NYT, “We’re seeing indications from seabirds that something is really not right.”

"More species will likely be affected in greater numbers in the coming months as El Niño warms the ocean further, said Tammy Russell, a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to the NYT.

The mass casualty of seabirds was reported a decade ago and was driven by the El Niño effect. Researchers estimate that this compounded crisis caused the deaths of around four million murres in Alaska, which is reportedly the largest climate-driven mass mortality event among wildlife in the modern era, says a journal Science 2024 study.

Parrish told National Geographic, “That’s half of Alaska’s population of murres, and twenty percent of the global population, that died within just three months.”