Where are the puffins? The research behind their disappearance

CANNON BEACH, Ore. (KATU) — Warmer temperatures and the official start of spring mark a new beginning for the tufted puffins as breeding season brings flocks along the coast.

But this “circus” of puffins is on the decline, with the tufted puffin listed as endangered in Washington and a species of concern in Oregon.

Local organizations are hoping to turn this around before it’s too late.

“The tufted [puffin] in Oregon has declined from an estimated about 5,000 birds back in the late 1980s, early 1990s, to the most recent survey, [which] was in 2021, and it was about 550 birds. So we’re talking a really big decline,” said Joe Liebezeit, the statewide conservation director for Bird Alliance of Oregon.

He says the organization has been trying to help the tufted puffin species for more than a century.

“Our founder, back in the early 1900s, William Finley, they did expeditions all around Oregon, including on the coast and off the coast of Northern Oregon, there’s a site called Three Arch Rocks,” said Liebezeit.

Liebezeit continued, “That has one of the strongest tufted puffin populations left in Oregon. And back in the early 1900s, our founder went there and actually camped out on the island, took a rowboat out there with a colleague, and documented the puffins, and at that time worked with the president administration, which was the Theodore Roosevelt administration way back then, and was able to get that protected. And that eventually became part of the National Wildlife Refuge out there.”

But the fight to conserve the seabirds is far from over.

Research

KATU’s Avery Elowitt asked, “There is research being done to try and understand why there has been a decline. Have there been any sort of findings so far?”

Liebezeit responded, “It’s still an ongoing process. We do believe a lot of it is related to climate changes.”

He explained, “In the North Pacific, which is that area right around those places I mentioned, that decline is happening; there have been years in the past decade or 15 years of really warmer temperatures in our ocean, surface water temperatures. And what that does is it makes all the small, little fish, the forage fish, like sardines and anchovies, they kind of leave town.”

Liebezeit said, “They don’t reproduce, or they move out of the area when it’s really warm temperature. And so that’s put a strain on the ability of the puffins and other seabirds to find food, to survive, and to feed their chicks.”

Jenny Gooldy, the communication coordinator for the Haystack Rock Awareness Program, said the organization has noticed the decline in puffin populations at Cannon Beach.

“I’ve noticed a change in just my short five years here. Where it’s earlier on, you know, April, you start seeing them trickling in, and you can see them quite active,” said Gooldy. “Last year was probably a year that we noticed a big change, and a lot of it can be due to several factors.”

She said that one reason for the decline could be from other birds.

“A big thing is the eagle presence has become quite marked in our area now, and the eagles are trying to spike territory,” said Gooldy. “So they’re sitting on Haystack Rock, and they go after the adult birds. That’s a lot of pressure for our puffins.”

Another factor could be human-caused, like drones, she noted.

“We’ve had people last year that were taking green lasers and aiming them at the burrows at night, which disturbed all the birds. Drone usage; unfortunately, birds will look at a drone as being a predator because they don’t understand what that is, it’s a threat, and they will abandon their nest.”

Action plan

Liebezeit says there are various group efforts to conserve the tufted puffin.

“We’re part of a group of different agencies and nonprofits, including National Audubon, US Fish and Wildlife, Friends of Haystack Rock, and a bunch of other groups that have developed what’s called a ‘tufted puffin action plan,’ and it’s specific to Oregon. It identifies what types of research do we need to be doing, what types of outreach and policy work to try to lift the species back up.”

Beyond outreach, the organization has also taken legislative action.

“Also at the policy level, [we] just helped pass a bill called 1.25% for Wildlife,” said Liebezeit. “That bill increased the transient lodging tax by 1.25%. And it’s going to bring in a whole bunch of money to be focused on at-risk species like the tufted puffin. So we’re hoping that some of those funds are used to do some of that monitoring and research that needs to get done for the species in the coming years.”

Visiting the puffins

This doesn’t mean you should skip out on seeing the puffin party.

Gooldy said to follow tide pool etiquette, stay on the sand, and do not stand on the rocks as that crushes the puffin’s food supply.

She also noted that the best time to try to see the tufted puffins is in the morning during low tide, with their most active hours from sunrise to around 11 a.m.

From July 1-4, 2026, the non-profit Friends of Haystack Rock will host its annual Great Cannon Beach Puffin Watch from 8 a.m. to noon on the beach in front of Haystack Rock.

The event will include bird scopes and binoculars, as well as experts to promote education on the puffins.