On this windy, sunny day at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, there was a thick layer of offshore haze that limited our visibility to about 4 miles out.
We received a report that a sub-adult female gray whale washed ashore at Virgin Creek beach on the north end of Fort Bragg. Sarah Grimes, the stranding coordinator at the Noyo Center for Marine Science, along with a team from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito and California Academy of Sciences were able to collect valuable data and perform a necropsy on this whale today. Hopefully, there will be much to learn about this gray whale and the cause of death will be identified. I will report back when this information becomes available which may be several weeks.
♒️ AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA:
💠 2 foraging gray whales – we suspect that one of these grays has been foraging along the peninsula for several days
💠 62 harbor seals – 4 moms and pups
💠 2 black oystercatchers
♒️ TOTAL GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE ⏬️
🔵 344 northbound – includes 7 mother/calf pairs
🔴 382 southbound
🟢 15 foragers
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