Noyo Pelagics Report
Scripp’s Murrelet, 10 nm nw of Fort Bragg, 3/01/2026, Roger Adamson.
We kicked off our 2026 Noyo Pelagics year in fine fashion with a short-notice half-day trip March 1st. Winds were light from the south for the entire trip, skies were mostly cloudy to mostly clear, and swell was low, all adding up to a great day on the water.
Right out of the harbor we spotted Gray Whale blows. Several Noyo Center for Marine Science (NCMS) folks and whale enthusiasts were aboard and were busy snapping photos of the whales as they surfaced, to contribute to a catalogue being developed by Happywhale that may enable the study of individual movement patterns.
We then headed up to the canyon and within a few minutes had our first Black-footed Albatrosses, Black-legged Kittiwakes, and shearwaters. We wound up with 30-40 Black-foots but could not come up with any of the semi-expected Laysan or the semi-unexpected Short-tailed Albatross. We had 6-10 Laysans and three Short-taileds in April and May last year, and we’ll be scanning the horizons again this year on our four scheduled upcoming trips. Kittiwakes were with us all day, 30-40 of these as well, and we tallied about 6 Pink-footed, one Short-tailed, one Sooty, and a few other dark shearwaters that got away without ID. We also enjoyed all of the other usual birds over the canyon; four species of alcids included two early Pigeon Guillemots in breeding plumage heading south, well off shore, probably to the Farallones. And, yes, gulls, a healthy flock of which followed us all day and consumed six bags of popcorn and two bags of Utz red-hot cheese balls. Among the gulls was a nice frosty individual that turned out to be a hybrid American Herring x Glaucous-winged Gull, or “Cook Inlet” gull. Around this time an impressive 8-10’ Salmon Shark was spotted right off the bow, among an early crop of by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella).
Humpback Whales! The highlight for most on the trip was finding at least four Humpbacks, super early this year. Last year we did not see any until July. Not only did we see humps but also flipper flapping, breaching, and plenty of fluking, enabling us to record the under-tail
Black-legged Kittiwake photo by Tim Bray.
patterns for individual ID. Often we know who they are and their entire history within 15 minutes of getting the shots. Interestingly, this time, none of them came up on Happywhale, indicating unknown or poorly known individuals. Could this be due to the unusually early date for these at this location? Time and more photo-documentation will tell. As we headed in from the last whale, it twisted and waved half of its body and tail at us about 15 times. Yep, see you again, in April we hope.
We teased our lead-up to the trip by saying we’d see Gray Whales, albatrosses... “and who knows what else? There has been very little coverage offshore in late February.” Well, humpbacks for one. For two, on our way back in, just 3.25 miles from shore, Tim spotted a small alcid on the water that wound up being a very confiding (for this species) Scripps’s Murrelet! This species is rare off our coast, usually far offshore, in August-October but is completely unexpected in early March. It just goes to show that almost anything is possible on these trips.
Noyo Pelagics has an all-day trip going on Saturday April 4 and there is still room to sign up. Also a half-day trip on Sunday April 19, and another all-day trip on Sunday April 26. Sign up for any or all at noyopelagics.com
