Date: 4/18/25 9:05 am From: Tim Bray via groups.io <tbray...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Mendocino pelagics
Greetings Calbirders. The Mendocino Coast Audubon Society and the Noyo
Center for Marine Science are collaborating with Anchor Charter Boats to
run offshore marine life tours this year. The schedule includes at least
one all-day pelagic seabirding trip each month from April through
November, in addition to half-day birding and marine-mammal trips. The
complete schedule and more information about the trips can be found here:
https://noyopelagics.com/
You can register and prepay at that website. Our first scheduled trips
are coming up soon, a half-day on Saturday April 26 and an all-day (ten
hours) trip on Sunday the 27th. The marine forecast for those days
looks good right now.
These trips are led by ornithologist Peter Pyle, with Rob Fowler
co-leading on many of the all-day trips.
Anchor Charters skipper Richard Thornton reported a concentration of
close to 1000 Black-footed Albatrosses north of Noyo Canyon last week
and, weather permitting, we may try and relocate this concentration
during our full-day trip of Sunday, April 27th. About 15 albatrosses
were also seen from shore two days ago, including two that followed a
fishing boat to within a half mile of the harbor entrance. The next 2-3
months represent the peak period for numbers of this species off our
coast, and we'll be watching for Short-tailed Albatross (three records
off Mendocino last year).
We also have two full-day and one half-day trip planned for May
9th-12th, representing the only time this year we are trying two
full-day trips in one weekend. So if you'd like to come up for two or 2
and a half trips, this would be the weekend. It coincides with our
finding 30+ Murphy's Petrels, five Hawaiian Petrels, and 9 Laysan
Albatrosses on a full-day trip two years ago.
Hope to see you up here this spring or later in the year!
