Trip Report. Noyo Pelagics, 8 December 2025
On short notice, and based on a good-weather forecast, Richard Thornton of Anchor Charters scheduled a half-day trip for Willits High School today (Dec 8) to see if we could see whales and albatrosses, and he invited Tim, Catherine, and I along for the ride. The biology teacher was able to get a grant to do the trip, and the students had a blast and learned a ton about the ocean. If anyone out there knows of any other high school biology classes that would like to give this a try, please have them contact Richard.
Weather was calm but the bane of fog plagued us for most of the trip, visibility ranging from a few hundred meters to two miles. On the way north, towards Noyo Canyon, we skirted along the eastern edge of the fog bank. Literally thousands of alcids and gulls were feeding along this lane, about three miles from shore. So many in fact that it was hard to pick out an unusual alcid among the 2000+ Common Murres and 250+ Rhinoceros Auklets, one fly-by Tufted Puffin all we could locate, as much as we tried. Among the avian hordes, though, were three species of shearwaters, one each of Laysan and Black-footed Albatross, and eight species of gulls including a couple of Black-legged Kittiwakes. Among the dark shearwaters we counted and photographed 60-70 Sooties and 8-12 Short-taileds, with 10-12 Pink-foots rounding it out. Did we identify every single dark shearwater? No. But did we paint an accurate picture? I am confident we did.
Gull, alcid and cormorant flock. Photo: P. Pyle
We decided to venture west to the canyon. Despite much reduced visibility, birds continued thick, many attracted to the flurry of gulls we had coaxed to follow the boat. We put out a slick at the head of the canyon, with only limited success due to light winds and low visibility, but we still managed to bring in 10-12 Black-footed and another Laysan Albatross, plus several hungry fulmars. On the way south, the fog had crept closer to shore but we were able to locate the same highway of birds and ride it to the Casper Ridge, a bank off the Cabrillo Lighthouse. On this leg Short-tailed Shearwaters outnumbered Sooties, 15 to 10, and we picked up more albatrosses, fulmars, and two more Tufted Puffins, one of which circled the boat 19 times. Overall a great bird list given that we only made it five miles out and couldn’t see very far for most of the day. Despite our not finding any whales or dolphins, the Willits students enjoyed the albatrosses (especially), as well as identifying the two species of sea lions on the buoys, seeing a few Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) and bait fish below the feeding birds, learning a lot about the very productive marine environment here, and just how valid and chill it is to be on the ocean, many of them for the first time.
Short-tailed ~Shearwaters. Photos: Tim Bray and Peter Pyle
We often see birds that “get away” and there is current discussion of how much we should report these. Choices are not to anyone, keeping discontentedness to oneself, mentioning it to the participants on the boat only, or reporting it more formally in the eBird Checklist or to regional committees. I was on the stern trying to photograph a first- year Ring-billed Gull (a notable bird out there) when I a bullet-shaped gull headed up the wake, smaller than the Ring-billed or a Black-legged Kittiwake but bigger than a Bonaparte’s, and shaped like the latter on steroids. As we have learned on pelagic trips (and in general birding) it is often best to raise the camera before the binoculars when we have an interesting suspect. But not in this case. It was on the edge of the fog and my auto-focus balked, going in and out but not locking in. It continued to puzzle me during brief milliseconds of camera focus, the shape being wrong for anything I knew, and the bill being small and stout. Giving up on the camera I watched it flying away through bins in good light. The back was dark, between a California and a Western, the head and rumpwere bright white, and the wing tips were black without white “mirrors”. Damn. I choose the middle option in this case, mentioning it on the boat but not further, not even what I thought it might be, lest rumors start and my credibility tanks. Had I seen red legs and feet I might have chosen option three, but without photos these day, probably not.
Tufted Puffin, Pink-footed Shearwater, Black-footed and Layson Albatrosses Photos: Tim Bray and Peter Pyle
We are working on our 2026 schedule for Noyo Pelagics trips now and should have these dates available soon. We are planning for 2-3 more trips in April-July than last year, to search for Short-tailed Albatrosses and Pterodroma petrels, which can be seen as close as six miles from shore at the head of Noyo Canyon during these months. We will also be scheduling more half-day trips for whales and birds as we see weather windows approach. To receive announcements on these shorter-notice trips, you can sign up for the Mendo-Pelagics list-serve group Also stay tuned for announcements on a 3-4 hour trip we have planned on the afternoon of December 21st, to the Casper Ridge (five miles from shore), as part of the Fort Bragg Christmas Bird Count.
Happy CBC’ing,
Peter
American Herring, Glaucous-wined, Thayer’s and Western Gulls of various plumage cycles. Photos: Peter Pyle.
