El Niño drives South American seabirds to unprecedented numbers in Panama Bay
Warm waters from a strong El Niño have pushed seabirds normally found off Peru and Chile into Panama Bay, where they are gathering in unusually large flocks.
A powerful El Niño event is heating the eastern Pacific, driving fish such as anchovies and sardines away from the cold, nutrient-rich waters off Peru and Chile. Deprived of their normal prey, seabirds have migrated to Panama Bay, where observers have recorded unusually high numbers, especially blue-footed boobies near the Peñón de San José and Panama City. Rosabel Miró of the Audubon Society of Panama noted that birdwatchers began spotting the birds in June, ahead of forecasts for a strong El Niño. Data from the eBird platform show counts ranging from 60 to 400 birds, exceeding figures from previous El Niño episodes.
Steven Paton of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute reported record-high temperatures and below-average rainfall in the Panama Canal watershed, attributing the changes to the deepening thermocline that reduces nutrient upwelling. Scientists caution that if ocean conditions normalize, the seabirds may vanish as quickly as they arrived, underscoring the vulnerability of marine ecosystems to climate variability.
Why it matters
The sighting signals how climate anomalies can rapidly disrupt marine food webs and affect wildlife distribution.
In this story
