Category: Daily Observations

Offshore haziness limited our visibility. AT SAUNDERS REEF: ❇️ 1 humpback – taking long, deep dives ❇️ 5 northbound brown pelicans AT POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE: ❇️ 8 harbor seals swimming and bottling around their haul out sites at high tide ❇️ 3 black oystercatchers ❇️ 4 black turnstones ❇️ 1 American kestrel ❇️ 1 brown…

Today was less foggy but cloudy and gray. There was very little distinction between ocean and sky. AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA: 💠 1 humpback whale seen because of one full breach and big splash 💠 42 harbor seals 💠 3 American kestrels 💠 brown pelicans; 8 feeding, 34 flying north; 15 flying south…

Foggy conditions today left us with poor to zero visibility. We did not see any whales at either the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula or at Saunders Reef. AT PAL: ⭐️ 17 harbor seals ⭐️ 1 great blue heron ⭐️ 36 brown pelicans; mostly flying north AT SAUNDERS REEF: ⭐️ approximately 115 brown pelicans flying north…

Common Whales & Dolphins and How to Identify Them Saturday, September 20 Join Scott and Tree Mercer of the Mendonoma Whale & Sea Study for a discussion on several different whale and dolphin species that we commonly encounter along our coast. Get tips on how to identify them and when they are most likely to…

Due to foggy conditions, we had poor visibility at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. 🔆 NO WHALES SEEN 🔆 17 harbor seals; tide coming in 🔆 1 black turnstone 🔆 4 black oystercatchers 🔆 1 American kestrel 🔆 10 brown pelicans flying north Unfortunately, the fog followed us to Saunders Reef. 🔆 NO WHALES SEEN…

Observations from the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula: ♦️ 5 humpbacks- one pair and three singles ♦️ 6 harbor seals swimming around their haul out sites at high tide ♦️ 1 great blue heron ♦️ 12 brown pelicans flying north We thank Sue and Tom Ottoboni for reporting their sighting of whales to us last evening…

After several days of various, but persistent, levels of fogginess, we finally had decent visibility today at Gerstle Cove at Salt Point State Park. Here we observed: 🔷 2 humpback whales: one about four miles offshore, breaching; the second was six miles offshore also breaching 🔷 at high tide with the haul out sites covered,…

The ocean was calm today but there was offshore haziness that reduced our visibility. At the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, we observed: ✳️ 15 humpbacks – many were breaching multiple times, flipper slapping; flukes and backs visible ✳️ 57 harbor seals ✳️ estimate of 55 brown pelicans

We had excellent visibility today at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. The ocean was calm and there was no wind. We observed: 🔆 11 humpback whales – two pairs with a single close by and five singles, two of the singles breached 6 times 🔆 67 harbor seals at low tide 🔆 1 great blue…

The day at Gerstle Cove began cloudy and gray but by mid morning, we had abundant sunshine and excellent distinction between sea and sky. We had unlimited visibility all the way to the horizon. We observed: 💠 18-22 humpbacks, many breaching and lunge feeding between 2 and 5 miles offshore 2 humpbacks, approximately 100 yards…

Today we had intermittent fog that greatly reduced our visibility.  However, we did observe three feeding humpback whales less than one mile from shore at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula. We also counted 18 harbor seals.

Hazy on the horizon but good visibility overall.  Some whitecaps and slight wind. AT SAUNDERS REEF WE OBSERVED: 🔶 9 humpbacks – two breaches 🔶 1 sea lion swimming north 🔶 7 brown pelicans AT THE POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE PENINSULA WE OBSERVED : 🔶 3 humpbacks – two traveling north together, one single 🔶 5…