They're not well monitored in the broader region, so it's hard to know for sure, but their numbers have been increasing rangewide, so it's not a huge concern. Still, quite striking to see an essential extirpation of breeding individuals from an entire state.

We're fairly confident that coyote disturbance at the colony is the primary cause, because they've been able to access the colony from the shore because water levels are so low. Could potentially be a reaction to some birds at the colony dying from avian flu, but that's speculation until we get test results back from the few individuals we were able to go out and swab.