Something for Everyone

The trip report for last Saturday lists a wealth of marine life - verifying what we’ve been reporting for weeks, that abundant food is luring record numbers of Humpbacks and sea birds. Naturalist Doreen Moser Gurrola’s report shows that there really was something for everyone - 17 species of birds, lunge-feeding whales, seals, sea lions, porpoises, and dolphins.


It really is startling when the Humpbacks break the water’s surface, mouths gaping like mammoth clam shells, ventral (throat) pleats extended for a gulp of krill or anchovies and scores of gallons of water. The lunge is a powerful trust, designed to fill the throat and expand the pleats to capacity with water and food.

According to scientists at the University of British Columbia baleen whales such as Humpbacks survive on a diet of the smallest of prey - krill, by having a jaw that spans a quarter of their body length, an enormous mouth that goes from head to belly button, and by doing lots of lunges. Their research shows that the whales can take in about 70 cubic meters of water in one gulp - that’s roughly the size of a school bus.



Here are the sightings from last Saturday from Doreen’s report:

On board The Lovely Martha:
Conditions: Calm seas, thick fog (<½ mile visibility).
Despite limited visibility, we had great sightings:

Birds: 17 species including Sooty Shearwaters (hundreds!), Pink-Footed Shearwater, Tufted Puffin, Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemot, Rhino Auklet, Black Oystercatchers, Western Gull, Heerman’s Gull, Caspian Tern, Elegant Tern, Brown Pelican, Brandt’s Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Double Crested Cormorant, Western Grebe, and Clark’s Grebe.


Cetaceans: 5 humpback whales: 1st sighting at Duxbury Reef in morning, 2nd sighting near weather buoy on return, and 3rd sighting of 3 near Duxbury on return. At this spot, one whale was continuously lunge feeding, showing baleen and ventral pleats.

Harbor porpoise, possible Dall’s porpoise, and possible Pacific White-sided dolphin (in SF Bay!)

Pinnipeds: Harbor Seal; California Sea Lion; Elephant Seal; Northern Fur Seal (>30 at Indian Head); Steller Sea Lion.

~Doreen

When we have a day like Doreen described, our passengers go home happy that they’ve seen a whale, or spotted a rare bird out at the mysterious Farallon Islands. Days like this one with all those sea lions lolling on the Farallon slopes, and photogenic Tufted Puffins within camera range really have something for everyone.


One more thing that I think everyone will find interesting are the Common Murre father/chick pairs swimming out at the Farallones now. Just in case you missed them, or to prepare you for what you’ll see on your upcoming SFBay Whale Watching trip, you have to check out the fantastic video clip on PRBO Conservation Science’s “Los Farallones” website at www.losfarallones.blogspot.com - they’ve filmed the plunge the chicks take off the cliffs into the sea where they then join their fathers and commence their hunting and fishing lessons. It’s an amazing sight - it’ll make a birder out of everyone.

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Finally, our favorite thing is meeting our passengers - we’re convinced that whale watchers are uncommonly interesting people. Our second favorite thing is getting complimentary letters from interesting, satisfied passengers from exotic locations. Thank you Ernie!




To: SF Bay Whale Watching
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: Whale Watching Excursions

Hi Roger,
Sorry for not replying before now but we only got back home to Scotland yesterday. We were with Saturday’s trip and we had a very enjoyable time and spotted at least 5 humpbacks which as you can guess gave us an enormous thrill. Can I take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for a wonderful day and please pass our compliments and thanks to Doreen our biologist whose knowledge of the animals and enthusiasm for her work was fantastic and added to the experience. Next time we are on the west coast we will definitely be out again looking for the elusive Blue Whale.
Thanks again
Ernie


Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.