[CINC] Blues - Humpbacks - and a Marine Bio Blitz

[Kevin Bailey]

Hi CINCers

 

We were up in Monterey last weekend and it was a marine bio sensory
overload! Check this out:

 

We went whale watching with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch Center with Capt
Richard and naturalist Kate Spencer

 

Right out of the gate we saw cetaceans from about 10 minutes from the dock
the entire time.

 

For starters the beaches and breakwater and every other surface had sea
lions. There were hundreds – maybe over 1000 in the immediate harbor area.
Many were quite small. Many new births. They showed up about a month ago and
people up there are saying “they are from Santa Barbara” and not sure why
they came here. We suspect the food since many looked underweight and they
were pupping in places that a sea lion would not normally be giving birth.

 

The boat trip started off with a Minke – which soon turned into 5 Minke
Whales in the area before we were even out of the Bay.

 

Then once we turned the corner to the south out of the Bay the spouts were
EVERYWHERE. Blue Whale spouts sky high everywhere near and far!

The official count on our morning trip was over 8 Blues that were close to
us with many others 1-2 miles off in distance.

 

Then we started seeing breaching and lunge feeding in groups, in the
distance. Which way should we go? So much action we need to pick a place to
go and watch the show! 

The Humpbacks were feeding in groups all around us. There were 3 on the
left, 2 in the front and 4 to the right and then many more 200 yards, 500
yards, ½ mile 1 mile etc
 whales, whales, whales!

It was whale soup for sure. The Humpbacks (25+ in numbers were doing every
trick in the book in the deep canyon: Lunge feeding right next to the boat
and also in the distance all around us (we got great looks at the inside of
the Humpbacks mouth and baleen from about 20 feet! Our best look at live
baleen yet), trumpeting, lobtailing, spyhopping, breaching.

 

The boats fish finder could see huge amounts of krill at 200 and 400 feet in
different locations.

 

Also seen on the boat trip were 4 Harbor seals but there is another beach,
just around the corner from the aquarium, that the sea lions haven’t taken
over that was covered in several hundred harbor seals; they were also on
rocks along the coast from the wharf all the way down past Pacific Grove.

 

Sea Otters were plenty in the harbor area but not as many as we have seen
before. We watched several including one that dove and got a small octopus,
a crab, a sea star. We saw another pair keep swimming to the same rock to
peel off food and mom would hand off food to nearly grown but lazy juvenile.

 

Also 100 Pacific white sided dolphins and 20 Northern Right Whale dolphins
that were mixed in together and came up to the boat and rode the bow for
quite a long time.

 

As for birds: We saw 2 BLACK FOOTED ALBATROSS! on our boat trip and lots of
Sooty Shearwaters

Lots of pigeon guillemots – their chicks were under all the ledges, docks,
etc

Seen on the boat or on shore were:

Brandt’s Cormorants nesting, many with chicks.

Pelagic Cormorants

Many Western Gulls with chicks in nests on boats, docks, buildings, and any
possible place you can lay an egg!

Cassins Auklets

Red necked phalaropes

Black Crowned Night Heron Common Loons

Red-Breast Merganser

Canada Geese

Rudy Duck

 

Check out the boats sightings reports at
http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/slstcurr.htm

 

There was a local news story on the huge number of blues in MB:
<http://www.ksbw.com/video/24152320/index.html>
http://www.ksbw.com/video/24152320/index.html

 

Kevin and Toni Bailey

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