Recent Sightings

Observations today were from Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park in northern Sonoma County. We waited three hours for the fog to lift and when it did, we had excellent visibility to the horizon and the sea was calm.

✳️ 2 northbound gray whales – the first one reversed direction and headed southeast for a while in what appeared to be foraging behavior before continuing northbound

✳️ 22 harbor seals

✳️ 3 ospreys

✳️ 78 brown pelicans flying north

🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶

GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE: (since November 1, 2024) 🟰

🟪 350 northbound – includes 3 mother/calf pairs

🟪 391 southbound

🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶🔵🔶

Today was sunny, breezy, with good visibility,

At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula:

🌀 NO WHALES WERE SEEN

🌀 59 harbor seals, including 9 pups

🌀 25 brown pelicans flying north

💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠

GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE (since November 1, 2024) 🟰

🔺 348 northbound – including three mother/calf pairs

🔺 391 southbound

💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠🔆💠

Today we had sunny skies with an offshore marine layer which reduced visibity to approximately 3 miles. Wind was 15 mph north northwest with 25 mph gusts.

🔅🔅NO WHALES SEEN AT POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA OR AT SAUNDERS REEF🔅🔅

AT PAL:

❇️ 72 harbor seals – including 9 pups; 1 with fetal folds

❇️ 1 osprey

❇️ 1 Caspian tern flying north

❇️ 2 black oystercatchers

❇️ 37 brown pelicans flying north

AT SAUNDERS REEF:

❇️ 1 red-tailed hawk

❇️ 5 pelicans flying north

🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶

GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE: (since November 1, 2024) 🟰

348 northbound – includes 3 mother/calf pairs

391 southbound

🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶🟦🔶

Melting Arctic sea ice spurs gray whale die-off along West Coast | The Seattle Times

Today was sunny and clear but quite windy and whitecaps were plentiful.

Observations from Gerstle Cove:

🔷 2 northbound gray whales – singles

🔷 19 harbor seals

🔷 20 brown pelicans flying north, 1 flying south

🔷 2 black oystercatchers

🔷 1 garter snake

🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆

GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE: (since November 1, 2024) =

🐋 348 northbound – includes 3 mother/calf pairs

🐋 391 southbound

🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆💠💠🔆