Lift off

  

Humpback Whales off Bodega Head this morning (10 October 2025).

Here's a view of the splashdown after the breach:

 

 

It's been an amazing summer and fall for seeing Humpbacks off Bodega Head.  Whales were visible across the entire horizon today, both close to shore (within 1 mile) and far offshore.

 

A few more views, showing a dorsal fin, flukes, and spouts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Splash dance

  

Whale activity continued off of Bodega Head today (26 July 2025).  This afternoon I tried to get a few photos of breaching.  The whales were pretty far off (perhaps 1.5-2 miles), so these photos aren't the sharpest, but I'm sharing several for the record.

 

 

 

Lobtailing (slapping the flukes against the surface of the water), too :

 

 

 

 

And a view of splashes out near the horizon:

 

 

  

 

 

What a day!

  

Every where I went today (23 July 2025) I heard people saying, "What a day!"  The weather was beautiful at the coast, and it appeared that the whales were enjoying it, too!  Every time I scanned the horizon from Bodega Head today there were at least 8 or more Humpback Whales in view.

I took a few photos here and there, and several seemed to show the whales feeding at the surface, with mouths open:

 

 

Must be some baitfish around! 

White on gray

  

We were on a field trip to the Fort Ross/Salt Point area today (16 July 2025).  I didn't have a chance for many photos, but there was lots of whale activity visible offshore (mostly humpbacks), so here's a photo for the record. 

Sunset spouts

 

 

It looked like a nice sunset was developing at the end of the day, so I went out to watch for a few minutes.  I started to notice some lighter spots out towards the horizon and it took me a minute to realize they were whale spouts being lit up by the lingering light.  So cool!

Offshore spouts

  

A distant shot, but I wanted to record that there have been good numbers of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off Bodega Head this week -- often 6-8 spouts or more visible across the horizon at any one time.  (And lots of pelican diving, too!)

Following the coast

  

Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus) were visible near shore today (3 May 2023), swimming north along the coast.

Along for the ride

 

 

Well, I've wanted to share this photo for a while, but it's been a little busy since Michael first let us know about this fascinating observation in mid-September.  

 

Meet Coronula diadema, sometimes known as a whale barnacle!

 

A young Humpback Whale washed up in Fort Bragg on 12 September 2022.  Michael was part of a team from the Noyo Center that went to document it and he took a few photos of the barnacles living on the whale.  It's not often that we get to see this species of barnacle up close as they live exclusively on whales!

 

You can see that the barnacles are quite rounded; they're often described as cask-shaped (or barrel-shaped).  They have sets of very prominent ribs and in some cases there is black coloration visible if the tops of the ribs have worn away or broken off.  The black is whale skin!  The barnacles anchor themselves in the whale's skin by incorporating it into the inner parts of their shells.

 

If you zoom in and look at the central area of the barnacle, you can see the orangish membrane and a pair of tiny white shells embedded in the membrane.  In other barnacle species, those plates (called scuta) help the barnacle close up entirely (like a trap door), but in Coronula diadema the plates are highly reduced.

 

 

 

  

These barnacles were alive when photographed, and the feeding appendages (known as cirri) were extended in one of the individuals (see below).  In Coronula, the appendages are relatively short.  Interestingly, I read that they have small hook-like structures at the tips of the cirri, perhaps indicating that they feed on larger types of zooplankton.

 

 

 

I can't help sharing one more close-up.  Check out the tiny "beads" at the base of the barnacle shells.  I don't recall seeing this texture in other barnacles.  That's new shell growth (barnacles add new shell at their base) and it's likely the beaded texture is worn away with time.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to Coronula diadema!  Many thanks to Michael Brito and the Noyo Center for sharing these wonderful photos.

Whale worth it?

 

 

Lots of whale activity off Bodega Head today (3 October 2022)...the most Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) I've seen at one time in a while.  They were quite a ways offshore, but at times there were at least 10 or more whales visible at one time.  Scanning the horizon, it was easy to see spouts, some lobtailing, a few breaches.  Not sure if the activity will continue, but it could be worth a look!

Fins and flukes

  

I don't have much time tonight, but here are a few Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) photos from the offshore boat trip on 21 August 2022.

This is the same whale showing its flukes:

 

 

 

 

Greyhounds of the sea

  

Okay, here you go, more Fin Whale photos!  The first two pictures (above and below) show their long backs.  The raised area surrounding the blowholes is also visible.

 

 

The next series highlights their dorsal fins.  It was hard to tell how many whales there were while they were surfacing in different areas, but it appears there were at least 5 different individual Fin Whales based on the different shapes of the dorsal fins.

 

Individual #1:

 

 

Individual #2:

 

  

 

Individual #3. Two photos, to document that this individual has a hole in its fin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Individual #4 (with a cutout at the trailing edge of its fin):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Individual #5.  Two photos -- I don't know if the second photo is the same individual as the first, but the fin shape looked similar enough that I couldn't rule it out.  (P.S.  The first photo is the same whale that showed its flukes in last night's post.)

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this visit with the "greyhounds of the sea"!

Going, going, gone!

  

I joined an offshore boat trip today (21 August 2022) on the New Sea Angler.  We made it ~30 miles off shore and visited Cordell Bank and Bodega Canyon.

One of the highlights was a small group of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus).  I'll show more pictures later (of Fin Whales and other species), but for now I thought I'd share these fluke shots.  

I haven't seen Fin Whales very often in this area (but see the previous sighting in the post on 31 July 2016).  And it's rare for them to show their flukes, so here you go!

 

 

 

 

More soon...

Spouts and flukes

  

A Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) has been observed fairly close to shore off Bodega Head during the past few days.  (And a few days ago I could also see quite a few Humpback Whales farther out towards the horizon.)

Here's another view of the Gray Whale heading away:

 

 

Close to shore

 

More Gray Whales were visible close to shore today (15 April 2022) -- here are a few examples!

 

 

 

 

 

Showing the way

 

 

Nice views of Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) cow-calf pairs close to shore off Bodega Head today (13 April 2022).  Head-on view (above) and a side view below:

 

 

 

And a couple of close-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close to shore

  

I've been hearing reports of Gray Whales off Bodega Head during the past few days, so I took a quick look this afternoon (7 April 2022) and saw a few individuals fairly close to shore.

 

 

 

Pardon me...

 

 

...coming through!

 

A Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) surfaces among Surf Scoters (Melanitta perspicillata) on 12 March 2022.  The whales are on their way north to Alaska.

 

Breach!

  

I know, it's a bit distant and blurry, but there were some nice Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaches out near the horizon today off Bodega Head.  Some full body breaches (with giant splashes), some flipper-slapping, some lob-tailing, some spouts, fins, and flukes.  A little bit of everything!  So here's one photo for the record on 24 June 2021.