Scripps Oceanography marine ecologist Octavio Aburto-Oropeza captured this flock of elegant terns at South Bay Salt Works in Chula Vista, Calif. in support of research by scientists at UC Riverside in elsewhere that found that birds have been abandoning nesting grounds in the Gulf of California because of unusually warm waters that block the flow of nutrients to the water surface. The birds left the nesting grounds shortly after arriving there and have sought locations on the California coast as alternate nesting locales.
Related Image Gallery: Photo of the Week 2015