diff --git a/plugins/out_es/es.c b/plugins/out_es/es.c
index 04f59eba4b2..f8be71a6fd7 100644
--- a/plugins/out_es/es.c
+++ b/plugins/out_es/es.c
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ static int cb_es_init(struct flb_output_instance *ins,
 
     ctx = flb_calloc(1, sizeof(struct flb_elasticsearch));
     if (!ctx) {
-        flb_errno();
+        flb_plg_error(ins, "cannot initialize plugin");
         return -1;
     }
     ctx->ins = ins;
diff --git a/plugins/out_es/es_conf.c b/plugins/out_es/es_conf.c
index 7b29f235765..c9d3e34ffa0 100644
--- a/plugins/out_es/es_conf.c
+++ b/plugins/out_es/es_conf.c
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ int es_config_ha(const char *upstream_file,
     ctx->ha_mode = FLB_TRUE;
     ctx->ha = flb_upstream_ha_from_file(upstream_file, config);
     if (!ctx->ha) {
-        flb_error("[out_es] cannot load Upstream file");
+        flb_plg_error(ctx->ins, "cannot load Upstream file");
         return -1;
     }
 
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ int es_config_ha(const char *upstream_file,
         ec = flb_calloc(1, sizeof(struct flb_elasticsearch_config));
         if (!ec) {
             flb_errno();
-            flb_error("[out_es] failed config allocation");
+            flb_plg_error(ctx->ins, "failed config allocation");
             continue;
         }