Date: 12/8/25 6:34 pm From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Short-notice Noyo Pelagics trip: puffins., Laysans, many Short-tailed Shearwaters, one that got away.
On short notice, and based on a good-weather day, Richard Thornton of
Anchor Charters (https://anchorcharterboats.com/) 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.
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.
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 rump were 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.
We are working on our 2026 schedule for Noyo Pelagics trips now and
should have these dates available soon at https://noyopelagics.com/. 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 (https://groups.io/g/Mendocino-Pelagics). 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.
