Pelagic Trip Report - October 7, 2024

Black-footed Albatross, photo by Tim Bray.

Around 20 birders and marine-mammal enthusiasts went on a half-day pelagic trip on Monday the 7th of October with Captain Richard Thornton on the Kraken. Skies were clear, fog was absent, and seas were manageable. 

We got a quick lesson on sea-lion identification, with Californias on the inner buoy, Steller's on the outer buoy, and both on the middle buoy, allowing direct comparison, not just in head shape but in vocalizations. Among the circus sounds of the Californias came the distinctive roars of the Steller's, why these were named sea-lions in the first place, perhaps by Georg Steller himself. This was all with the backdrop of an incredible sunrise over the ridge behind the harbor.

Within a half hour we were seeing Sooty, Pink-footed, and Buller's shearwaters and had noticed whale spouts ahead. As we approached the spouts they became more abundant, and we started debating if they were Fins, Humpbacks, or Blues. It was a bit puzzling, for good reason: it turned out all three species were present and intermingling! On the captain's fish-finder was a large dense mass of bait about 150 feet down. For over an hour the whales were diving and spouting all around the boat, feeding on this bait mass, cruising hither and yon, and in the case of some Humpbacks, fighting each other in territorial or mate-related dispute, according to the experienced marine-mammal scientists on board. Several times we had all three species within one binocular view, something I had never seen before, and all three came close at times, including two pairs of Blue Whales surfacing and re-surfacing just 50 yards from the boat. Yow. Swirling flocks of shearwaters scurried between feeding whales, Black-footed Albatross came in to investigate, a Minke Whale made a brief appearance, and both White-sided Dolphins and Dall's Porpoises at times came over to ride the bow in small groups. And all just 3-4 miles from shore!

The mammal-heads could have sat there all day but the bird-heads wanted to get out to the canyon so, as the saying on pelagic trips goes, we left the birds to go find birds. Sometimes this becomes a bad decision, the itch to get farther offshore leading to empty horizons for hours on end. But we've come to rely on Noyo Canyon not being a "pelagic birding desert," and again it did not disappoint. We headed out to the "dog-leg," a San Andreas-related feature along the north canyon wall, put out a fish-oil slick, and our deck-hand Corinne diligently tossed out pieces of Albacore and Sablefish from carcasses provided by the Princess Seafood Market. Within 15 minutes we had up to 30 Black-footed Albatross squabbling over the fish, and dozens of shearwaters and gulls swirling around.

Laysan Albatross, photo by Tim Bray.

A Sabine's Gull, a Long-tailed Jaeger, and several Pomarine Jaegers came into the fray or were seen passing through. At least three Short-tailed Shearwaters came in to investigate. This species is very similar to Sooty Shearwater, a bit smaller, smaller-billed, with a darker average underwing, and a more darting flight style. So similar are they that some birders have just given up telling them apart, but now with several digital cameras and long lenses aboard, we can get the shots to secure the ID. 

After nearly an hour of this action we left the slick and began heading back toward the whales. We had not gone far before stopping to view a Laysan Albatross that conveniently settled onto the water and allowed us to approach. This species is uncommon here, but this year we have seen them a few times. Photos revealed a numbered band on the left leg and we are now hoping to learn when and where the bird was banded, as we have in the past: most of our Laysans were banded on islands off Mexico, as opposed to the banded Black-footeds we see from the Hawaiian Islands.

We then made our way slowly back to revisit the whales, with the wind and swell at our back. It actually became rather hot on the stern deck!  The first of three South Polar Skuas and more Pomarine Jaegers buzzed us.  The third skua, along with albatrosses and shearwaters, was just two miles from shore. Why do we see more skuas and jaegers in the afternoon than in the morning? We came up with several theories, one of which is that they wait for the other birds to feed up before chasing them around to steal their seafood.  

The whale-a-palooza was continuing, and a couple of Blues and a Humpback again made close passes to the boat. We were back ashore by 1:30 pm after an easy and thrilling half day asea.

We hope to get out for more adventures like this whenever marine conditions are good and we can get enough people together to charter the boat. To find out about such trips, join the email group:
https://groups.io/g/Mendocino-Pelagics