This foraging gray whale was seen not more than 150 yards off the beach at Gualala Point Regional Park. Fortunately, Shari Goforth was alerted by friend and neighbor, Laverne Hancock, who spotted the whale from her home early this morning. I met Shari on the bluff trail above the beach and we watched this gray foraging. Shari took these pictures and wrote the following description:
23 Jan 2025 Gualala Point North, Beach/Sandbar:One gray whale in close to beach, appeared to be foraging.Pic 1: gray stayed low in the water. Photos revealed approx. 11 significant RIGHT lateral vessel propeller strike scars and one very large RIGHT-lateral, length-wise scar at the dorsal hump involving the peduncle with cyamid lice present.Pic 2 is left-three quarter view.Pic 3 is the same gray spyhopping; and the eye can be seen in the dark area above the corner of the mouth.Posted to HappyWhale database for ID.
We thank Shari Goforth very much for allowing us to share her amazing photos here.
Due to offshore haziness, today’s visibility was not as good as previous days.
At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula we observed:
* 17 southbound gray whales – one loose group of three, 3 pairs, and 8 singles; one of the single whales chin slapped twice, then did a half breach followed by two full breaches
GRAY WHALES SEEN TO DATE = 286 southbound
* 63 harbor seals
* 2 sea lions swimming north
* 3 red-tailed hawks
* 3 American kestrels
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