Recent Sightings

Visibility was excellent today and we could see all the way to the horizon. It was mostly cloudy with some sun and the ocean was calm.

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔶 5 Humpbacks – we first noticed a large group of feeding birds consisting mostly of gulls, with some pelicans and terns; as we watched them, the humpbacks showed up to join in the feeding

🔶 13 southbound gray whales – one group of four, one group of two and seven singles; many fluked and backs and heads were visible; most were swimming between one and two miles offshore and made steady progress south

🔶 48 harbor seals

🔶 1 red-tailed hawk

🔶 1 Ferruginous hawk

🔶 2 American kestrels

🔶 2 black oystercatchers

💠 Shari Goforth was observing today earlier in the day and reported seeing a deuce and a single southbound gray whale at Gualala Point.

💠 NO WHALES WERE SEEN AT SAUNDERS REEF

TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 64 SOUTHBOUND

We welcomed a sunny, mostly clear day today after two days of rain and wind. Our visibility was quite good. The ocean was rough with large swells and whitecaps.

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔆 8 southbound gray whales – all singles; ranging from 3/4 miles to 2 1/2 miles out; at times, up to 4 whales could be seen in our observation area

🔆 73 harbor seals

🔆 1 red-tailed hawk

🔆 2 great blue herons – one hunting for food in the pasture and one on the rocks

🔆 1 American kestrel

🔆 54 brown pelicans – most flying south

❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️

🔆 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 48 southbound

We wish everyone a very happy, healthy, and peaceful new year. In 2026, may we make continued progress to understand, protect, appreciate, and respect all living things on earth.

Today was cloudy, gray, and quite windy. The wind speed was 17 mph out of the south southeast with gusts to 29 mph. The ocean was dotted with whitecaps. The afternoon brought intermittent, light rain showers.

🚫 NO WHALES SEEN TODAY AT SAUNDERS REEF OR AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA 🚫

AT PAL:

💢 60 harbor seals

💢 8 brown pelicans flying around the peninsula

💢 2 black oystercatchers

🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸🔶🔸

👀 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 40 southbound 👀

Today was cloudy with intermittent rain showers throughout the day. There was offshore fog as well.

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA :

🟣 8 southbound gray whales – one trio, one deuce, and three singles

🟣 74 harbor seals

🟣 3 American kestrels

🟣 4 black oystercatchers

🟣 42 brown pelicans flying north

🟢 NO WHALES SEEN AT SAUNDERS REEF TODAY

🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶

🔵 TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 40 southbound 🔵

The ocean was flat calm today but there was considerable cloudiness and offshore haziness way out on the horizon. The sunlight was quite filtered as it shone through the clouds.
Due to this odd lighting, we often spotted whales initially by locating their backs and heads as they came to the surface to breathe.

AT SAUNDERS REEF:

🔷 2 southbound gray whales – traveling south side by side for a great distance

AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:

🔷 4 southbound gray whales – two singles and one deuce; we watched the pair swimming very close to each other for quite sometime but then they separated with one moving ahead of the other as they continued south

🔷 84 harbor seals

🔷 2 great blue herons; one on the rocks at the shoreline and one in the pasture with the cows

🔷 4 black oystercatchers

🔷 4 brown pelicans flying north and 2 flying south

🔷 3 American kestrels

🔷 1 red-tailed hawk being harassed by a kestrel

TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 32 southbound