Date: 10/18/26 7:16 am From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Noyo Pelagics -October 17th highlights and Nov 1st now a Half-dayer
Greetings Mendo birders -
Yesterday's trip was very active, with 57-60 F degree water temps still keeping things cool off our shore, but with signs of El Nino continuing to accrue, not necessarily due to our local sea surface temps but because there may be nothing to eat down south.
Outside of the harbor, 100s of Black-vented Shearwaters were streaming north. Before this week this species had not been recorded in the county for over 10 years, but we ended up with over 1300 of them!
In with the BVSHs we ran into a pod of Common Dolphins, another warm-water species with only a couple of previous records that anyone can recall. A small group of Pacific White-sided and Northern Right Whale Dolphins came in to greet the visitors. Dozens of Humpback Whales then began blowing and feeding, and performing full breaches all around us, astonishing all on board. You'd think we were off Lahaina.
Conditions were calm until midday, when winds picked up to 20 knots or so, out 25 miles, but with low swell, providing a nice push back to harbor. We had 100s of gulls and sheawaters and dozens of Black-footed Albatrosses following our popcorn and fish-bit trail us all day, and we put out four menhaden oil slicks.
We ended up with seven shearwater species including Flesh-footed, Short-tailed, and Manx, possibly an 8th which you'll hear about if photos pan out, but probably not. Other avian highlights included 20+ Black Storm-Petrels and a few Ashies, two Laysan Albatrosses, two Tufted Puffins in their spooky Halloween winter plumage, 4-5 South Polar Skuas, 10 or so Pomarine Jaegers, both phalaropes, four species of alcids, and a late Sabine's Gull.
Due to low signups we have switched our scheduled trip of November 1st to a half-day trip, leaving the dock at a more reasonable 9 am for this time of the year. We will still be able to get out to the outer canyon, an area in which we encountered all of the marine mammal action and all bird species on this trip, though most storm-petrels were farther out.
We'll get the information on the website for 11/1 trip changed but until then signing up for the full-day trip will work. Cost will be $125, payable at the dock. Also our 11/30 trip has gained a lot of buzz and may fill soon, so if you are interested in that trip, targeting Mottled Petrel and Short-tailed Albatross, I wouldn't wait around.
Hope to see you on the 1st and/or the 30th.
Peter
On 10/13/2026 9:00 AM, Peter Pyle wrote: > Greeting Mendo birders - > > We still have room on on full-day pelagic trip and hope you'd consider > joining us. Since I posted the message to the Bay Area list serves on > Saturday (below) the weather forecast has indeed still held, with > rather light NW winds inshore and a shear of moderate winds offshore. > This can be ideal for both mammals inshore and birds along the shear. > What's more, the winds are relatively calm on Friday so we won't have > that choppy slop left over from the day before, as we have experienced > on a couple of our recent trips (despite calmer winds that day). Tim > says swell conditions look good, and if he say's this, you better > believe it! > > Yesterday and Sunday there were whale spouts dotting the horizon off > the Mendocino Botanical Garden and Pomo Bluffs. Ocean temps are still > an unseasonably cool or at least average 55 F at the Pt Arena buoy, > currently, so this may keep things lively out there. > > To sign up: > > https://noyopelagics.com/ > > Cheers, Peter > > > -------- Forwarded Message -------- > Subject: Re: Noyo Pelagics -October 17th > Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2026 07:28:56 -0700 > From: Peter Pyle <ppyle...> > To: North Bay Birds <northbaybirds...>, <SFBirds...>, > East Bay Birds <ebb-sightings...> > CC: Tim Bray <tbray...>, Chuck and Barbara Vaughn > <cevaughn...>, Roger Adamson <radamson...> > > Greetings Bay area birders - > > We still have some room on our pelagic trip for this coming Saturday, > October 17th. At this point light to moderate NW winds are predicted > but this can change. These conditions would be great for birding and > whale-watching if the prediction holds. > > We continue to have strong upwelling which has kept our sea surface > temperatures cool. Fisherman have been reporting an abundance of birds > and marine mammals over Noyo Canyon, attracted by the marine > productivity associated with upwelling. At the same time signs of El > Niño have come in the form of 6-8 boobies so far off Mendo and some > 400 Black Storm-Petrels on a half day trip we ran on September 27th. > We also had some close and thrilling encounters with Blue Whales that > day; see our report and photos at > > https://noyopelagics.com/september-27th-2026-half-day-trip-for-pelagic-birds-and-mammals/# > > > Also in case you missed it our combined report for three August trips: > > https://noyopelagics.com/august-3rd-16th-30-pelagic-birds-and-mammals/ > including Hawaiian Petrels, crowd-pleasing Nazca Booby, and six > species of storm-petrels including Townsend's. > > We still have 1-2 scholarships available for high school and college > students, sponsored by Mendocino Coast Audubon. If interested in one > of these, contact Tim Bray (cc'd above). Also sponsored by MCAS is a > camp site reserved at MacKerricher State Park for the night of the > 16th-17th. If interested in taking advantage of this, contact Roger > Adamson (cc'd above). > > To reserve a slot on our trip: https://noyopelagics.com/ > > Also note that we have added a full-day trip for November 30th to see > if we can find Mottled Petrels, a species that has become somewhat of > a Holy Grail for pelagic bird enthusiasts off California. They pass > through during a short period in late November and early December, a > time of the year when only a lucky few one-day pelagic trips have been > able to get out and find them. With our Pterodroma manna, we figure > outer Noyo Canyon will be as good as any place to see them, > > Hope to see you on the 17th! > > Peter
