September 27th, 2026 – Half-day trip for Pelagic Birds And Mammals
Seas and winds were calming as we left the harbor, with Richard Thornton and Anchor Charters, along deckhand Dan, who dutifully supplied us with a mountain of cut-up fish parts to use as chum, along with our 10 bags of popcorn. With these, as well as four bottles of menhaden oil (from a fatty Atlantic coast fish), we kept a flock of 100-200 gulls, 10-20 Pink-footed and Sooty Shearwaters, 10-15 Black-footed Albatrosses, and many other birds behind the boat for the entire trip, and were able to lay out three fish-oil slicks to bring in more.
The 25 participants were about evenly split between birdwatchers and marine mammal enthusiasts, so we spent some time with whales and dolphins, which was A-OK with the birders since each marine mammal encounter was accompanied by a feeding flock of birds. Right off the bat, we bumped into two large adult Humpback Whales in the outer harbor, only about half way to the last channel marker! In 2016 Humpbacks learned to come close to shore, a year of El Niño and warm water (the “blob”), when anchovies were pushed up against our coast. Some surprisingly robust upwelling that year created cooler pools of ocean for the anchovy, and following vertebrate rabble, to take refuge from the hot, less-productive waters offshore. With upwelling continuing unseasonably strong, we may be in store for the same set-up this year! These two Humpbacks pleased the crowd by lifting their massive tails to sound, just 100 yards from the boat.
The mammal highlight though, came over Noyo Canyon, where we found two Blue Whales just sort of lollygagging around, and so we lollygagged with them for a half hour or so. Blue Whales do not usually show us their tails when diving, but one of these two did. Three times! It was a very large animal, even for a Blue Whale, and the size of it’s caudal peduncle was immense, maybe five feet deep, back to belly. It had some odd bumps near the tail base, reminding us of Gray Whale knuckles, but on close inspection of photos we think they may have resulted from a large propeller strike. Luckily this one did not seem as bad off as other whales that get hit by ships. After they sounded for the third time a Fin Whale came in to join the party, and shortly thereafter we had a group of Dall’s Porpoise and Pacific White-sided Dolphins come by. Richard sped up the boat to the right speed to coax them in to bow-riding and for us to enjoy them doing so.
Blue Whales and Dall’s Porpoise. Photos Tim Bray (the three clear ones) and Peter Pyle.
Birds were everywhere on this trip, as is typical of the nutrient rich waters that emerge from the depths of Noyo Canyon during the recent upwelling events (Richard has had some pretty bouncy fishing trips and asked, why does it seems like May in September out there?). The aforementioned chum flock species graced us all day, plus Buller’s Shearwaters, Elegant Terns, jaegers, Rhinoceros Auklets a plenty, phalaropes of both kinds, and Northern Fulmars. But the ornithological event of this trip was Black Storm-Petrels, 385 of them when you tally things up (see Trip Report link). Before this year there were <10 records of these in Mendocino County waters. Ever.
Black Storm-Petrels, a worn adult plus three fresh juveniles. Photos: Roger Adamson and Tim Bray.
Black Storm-Petrels are experiencing an unprecedented incursion into Northern California waters this year, beginning with several on our May 30th trip, the first time this species had ever been seen up here in May, and with >2,000 noted over Cordell Bank two days before our trip. On this day there were several times when a 360° scan yielded tallies of 70 or more, scattered about over the water surface like Velella (well, almost). We had a hard time picking out Ashy and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels but did manage to find a few of each. A very healthy proportion of the Blacks were fresh juveniles. We’re guessing that the hot El Niño waters to our south, where they usually go at this time of year, are so unproductive that the entire population, perhaps including a bumper crop from the breeding season, is heading up to our cooler pools of water this year.
A second highlight came in the form of yet another sulid, this time an adult female Cocos Booby. We have already recorded 5-6 boobies off Mendo this year (Nazca and Cocos so far) and are expecting more to be displaced our way, for the same reasons the Black Storm-Petrels have arrived. Six species of Sulidae have been recorded in California and any of the six are possible here, including even the long-staying Northern Gannet of the Farallones, which has been seen as far north as Sonoma waters.
Buller’s Sheawater, Elegant Tern, Cocos Booby with Brown Pelican. Photos Roger Adamson and Tim Bray.
We have three full-day trips left on this year’s schedule, October 17th, November 1st, and November 30th (with backup dates December 1st and 2nd), the last one to target Mottled Petrels, which have become a Holy Grail for California birders. This species only swings by in late November and early December, when few pelagic trips have been scheduled and much fewer than this actually go, why we are scheduling backups. Stay tuned as well for some impromptu half-day trips throughout the rest of this year, which we plan on scheduling as weather windows arise. We can’t let all of those whales out there go undocumented! See https://noyopelagics.com/ to sign up.
Peter
