Recent Sightings

We were elated to be able to return to Gerstle Cove today in Salt Point State Park about two weeks after full containment of the Woodside Fire. The Gerstle Cove area was spared any damage from the fire which burned to the south of this location.

The day began with considerable cloudiness and a large fog bank offshore.  Fortunately, as the day progressed the weather conditions improved steadily with sunshine and a blue sky over a calm ocean. There was no wind. Visibility was very good.

🔆 12-15 humpbacks – we observed these whales for five hours often feeding in groups of three’s and two’s ; flukes and backs were visible and several whales breached; one was swimming g very quickly to the north

🔆 8 harbor seals

🔆 3 osprey – one carrying a fish

🔆 12 black oystercatchers

🔆 1 tern ; unable to identify the species

🔆 9-12 brown pelicans resting on a rock;  47 brown pelicans flying north and 22 flying south

We observed today at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula where the fog limited our visibility to about 2 miles offshore.

✅ NO WHALES  SEEN

✅ 97 harbor seals

✅ 2 black oystercatchers

The following information has been published by NOAA Southwest Fisheries :

A new abundance estimate of the gray whale population that migrates along the West Coast suggests their numbers have increased since last year.

Researchers at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center estimate that the Eastern North Pacific gray whale population is between 15,930 to 20,530, or an average of about 17,750 gray whales. That is a jump from last year’s estimate—one of the lowest since counting began in the late 1960s—which numbered between 11,690 to 13,190, or about 12,890 whales.

The apparent increase is welcome news and similar to fluctuations seen in some previous years. Yet, it raises questions about the assumptions we have tested and used in the past to inform our analytical approaches to the population estimate. We are examining:

• The relationship between demographics and environmental variability
• Whale migratory cadence and timing
• Previous assumptions made about whale behavior used to calculate the abundance estimation

The new numbers are based on a count of whales migrating south prior to their return migration north. Many gray whales stranded along the West Coast this spring before reaching their Arctic feeding grounds near Alaska. Some of the stranded whales were skinny or emaciated, suggesting they are not finding sufficient food to sustain their round-trip migration between Alaska and Mexico.

With much less wind at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula compared to the previous week, we had a calm ocean. Unfortunately, it became quite foggy at about 3 miles offshore.

♦️ 2 humpback whales – staying within a ten degree range north and south for over three hours

♦️ 105 harbor seals

♦️ 1 great blue heron

♦️ 37 brown pelicans flying north and 11 flying south