Eighteen birders, marine mammal, and ocean enthusiasts went out of Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg, on 4/26, on the Kraken with Captain Richard Thornton of Anchor Charters, for a half-day trip. As many of us crossed the Noyo River bridge at 7 am, we happily and eagerly looked out onto glassy seas and low swell, which we enjoyed on the way out…, for about 15 minutes. First the ripple, then the chop, then the whitecaps, and before we knew it we were heading straight into 15-20 knot winds. What’s more, the sea surface temperature was in the high 40s (F) due to lots of upwelling of late, so it was cold, and most of us huddled on the back deck in the lee of the cabin. But immediately out of the gate it was ‘birdy,’ with lots of loons, gulls, murres, and, right away, a stream of Sooty Pink-footed Shearwaters moving south, and albatross on the horizon. We bumped into a small pod of 15-20 Risso’s Dolphins and all had excellent close-up views and photo-ops, as we and them slowly cruised along the surface. We will add our photos to the Risso’s catalogue for future tracking of individuals.

After slogging into the tempest for a bit we saw some fishing boats on the horizon, along with the trawler Blue Pacific working the edge of Noyo Canyon. Gulls and albatross were sitting around the fishing boats so we headed over and decided to toss out some popcorn. Birds were hungry today, as immediately 100s of gulls and albatrosses got off the water and headed in a broad front to see what we were offering. Before we knew it we counted 240 Black-footed Albatrosses sitting around our stern, a bit disappointed that all we had to offer was popcorn. A Laysan Albatross joined, and quickly thereafter a Short-tailed Albatross snuck in undetected, as it was suddenly sitting there, hiding among the Blackfoots, a first-year or second-year bird looking very similar except for a bill nearly twice the size and bright neon pink.

This species was thought extinct in the 1930-40s, after plume-hunters decimated the single breeding colony on Torishima Island off Japan, mostly for their small feathers to make pillow down. Every last one on the island :(. For 15 years none were seen, but when a weather station was set up on the island in 1951, the meteorologists spotted 10-15

doing their courtship dancing and preparing to breed. These were young birds that had escaped the Armageddon by being at sea for their for first 6-8 years of life, as we now know they do, before coming in to first breed at age 8-10. Thankfully a young biologist named Hiroshi Hasegawa convinced the Japanese government to protect the species and support him, such that he could dedicate his life to studying them and bringing them back. The population now numbers over 7,000.

All on board were ecstatic and it was a longsought life bird for many. Photos later show it was banded, black on white “64N”. This bird had retained it’s juvenile outer primaries but had molted its head and many back feathers so I’m thinking it is a 2nd-cycle bird (almost 2 years old) that did not molt primaries in its first year, and I’ll be curious to see if the banding history bears this out. This is the 8th record for Mendocino waters, with no less than six of these being in the exact same spot, upper Noyo Canyon, between March and May 15 (from 2009 to earlier this year). So it looks like this may be the place to go see this species in spring!

The rest of the day was more of the same. We only made it out about 10 miles due to the weather, laying a slick at the “Dog Leg,” where 100 or more albatrosses came in for our halibut and salmon chum. But this was plenty far enough offshore for a half-day trip, and heading back in with trailing seas was a joy for all. A highlight for many of us was, simply, having dozens of Black-footed Albatross in view at all times. We revisited the Blue Pacific, the captain graciously letting us know when he’d pull his nets, and counted up to 450 Black-foots and saw the same Short-tailed again as it did so. Overall we estimated 600-1000 Black-foots for the day, including 3-4 that followed us in well within a mile of shore. On the way home we also found and enjoyed close looks at a couple of Gray Whales, and a surprise finale was a Scripp’s Murrelet inside of the red-and-white buoy that marks the harbor entrance.

Our Noyo Pelagics website is now ready for sign-ups on future trips, of which we plan a full slate, including full-day, half-day, and two-hour “science at sea” trips, led by Noyo Center for Marine Science biologists, for locals and families to learn about the incredible marine ecosystem just off our shores. We have three trips planned for May 9-12, which we are now billing as Short-tailed Albatross soirees! Please join us.

Peter