Author: tmercer

When the morning fog lifted, we headed out to look for whales at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula and Saunders Reef. 🔴 NO WHALES SEEN AT EITHER SITE AT PAL, we observed: 🔶 56 harbor seals 🔶 1 great blue heron 🔶 feeding groups of brown pelicans

We looked for whales today from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula and Saunders Reef. At PAL, we observed: 🔷 one whale that we were unable to identify with certainty; we suspect it was a humpback; we saw the whale blow three times and then he or she vanished 🔷 60 harbor seals 🔷 1 great…

https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/science-conservation/conservation/cetacean-conservation/stranding-necropsy/whale-stranding-press-materials

We did not observe any whales today at various locations from Gualala, to Saunders Reef, to the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. Shari Goforth, however, did photograph a possible blue whale or finback whale this morning which she first saw off Gualala Point and then off Ollies straight which is just south of Anchor Bay and…

♦️ The team conducting this years survey of migrating gray whales has determined that the current population size is 12,900. ♦️ This is the lowest number since the early 1970’s and lower than the reduced population size following the Unusual Mortality Event from 2019 – 2023. ♦️ The estimated calf count is 85, the lowest…

Total southbound grays seen: 391 Total northbound grays seen: 350 November – 0 southbound December – 8 southbound January – 354 southbound February – 28 southbound 15 northbound March – 1 southbound 256 northbound – includes 1 mother/calf pair April – 75 northbound – includes 4 mother/calf pairs May – 4 northbound 90% of southbound…

If you have not already done so, we urged you to submit a comment regarding offshore oil and gas drilling. Much gratitude to all those who have done so.

Today was quite windy, 16 mph with gusts up to 29 mph from the north northwest. This created many whitecaps on the ocean making it very challenging to see whale blows. At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, we observed: 💠 1 blow – unable to identify the type of whale 💠 83 harbor seals 💠…

Observations from Gerstle Cove with good visibility despite cloudy skies. No fog today!! 🔆 1 finback whale traveling south 🔆 1 foraging gray whale 🔆 5 – 6 sea lions swimming south 🔆 25 harbor seals 🔆 3 ospreys 🔆 152 brown pelicans 🔆 4 black oyster catchers

EXCELLENT PRESENTATION BY MARINE BIOLOGIST, BARBIE HALASKA WITH THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY:

18 gray whales, 1 pygmy sperm whale, 1 minke whale, 1 cuvier’s beaked whale 17 undetermined or no necropsy, 4 probable vessel strike May 31, 2025: gray whale, Montara State Beach; cause of death: undetermined, no necropsy performed May 29: gray whale, McNears Beach County Park, San Rafael; cause of death: undetermined, no necropsy performed…