A group of humpback whales has been filmed swimming among boaters in the Columbia River, having moved into the waterway from their normal home in the Pacific.

The whales are drawn by food and they’re not alone.

“What happens at this time of the year, when there’s not a lot of rain and there’s not a lot of river flow pushing the ocean water out, the tides bring a lot of ocean water in and with that ocean water come these small fish”, she said.

On Wednesday, Bruce Mate, the Director of the Marine Mammal Institute at OHSU Hatfield Marine Science Center told KOIN that at least four humpback whales were seen in the Columbia River. As Oregon Live points out, this applies to a number of species, including anchovies, a main food source for humpback whales.

The whales were spotted near Astoria, just downstream from the Astoria Megler Bridge linking Oregon to Washington, as Oregon Public Broadcasting points out. They can be found in oceans all over the world and have a migration range of approximately 16,000 miles, according to Wikipedia.

Patton talks with an Oregon State biologist in his article with OPB, who said sea creatures, are seeking food closer to shore because of oceanic conditions from El Nino.

The Columbia River forms almostthe entire border between Oregon and Washington.

Researchers point to a significantly strong El Nino this year as a cause for the whales’ unusual appearance.

El Niño, a cyclical climate storm phenomenon that originated in the Pacific Ocean, has been occurring during the last several months, featuring unusually warm waters in the central and eastern areas of the basin, according to News OXY.