Tag Archives: Blue Whale

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Shari Goforth headed out in two weeks ago on a Saturday for a pelagic trip out of Noyo Harbor on The Kraken along with 24 other seafarers. Many on board were birders, excited to see different kinds of petrels, albatrosses, skua and terns. Shari is mostly on the trip to spot whales. A blue whale was seen and Pacific white-sided dolphins. And humpbacks! Shari wrote, “It was a gray day, so here are a few photos that are not fogged-in. We were about from eight miles from the red and white whistle buoy outside Noyo Harbor when we encountered a group of humpback whales.”

Look at the green light on the water on the lower right. It's the sun reflected on the whale's body that is underwater. Shari says they can often see a whale before it spouts by noting this green reflection.

Shari got a clear photo of a distinctive fluke and she sent it in to Happy Whale to see if they had a previous identification of this particular whale. They did. Shari wrote, “That fluke is CRC-20332, Cascadia Research collective’s research number,  no nickname, first recorded off Baja 01-03-2022, the only sighting before our photo record on 08-17-2025."

Another photo is of a humpback rostrum showing the mouth nearly closed after a lunge feeding event with one other whale. The barnacles visible on the lower mandible pouch show their exposed cirri, the barnacles’ feeding appendages. Needless to say, it was a great trip!”

Thanks to Shari for allowing me to share her photos with you here. If you'd like to learn more about the pelagic trips out of Noyo Harbor, here is the link: http://noyopelagics.com

To be on their mailing list, you can sign up here: https://groups.io/g/Mendocino-Pelagics

The fog bank is smaller and a ways out over the ocean. Breezy sunny weather happening now!

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The largest animal on Earth, a Blue Whale, cruised up the Mendonoma Coast Monday morning.  Shari was one of several of us notified about this whale. She went out to several choice locations and managed to get these long-distance photos.

Shari estimates the whale was about 1/2 mile out. It is rare for a Blue Whale to be so close to shore. You can read the details of this sighting in tomorrow's Independent Coast Observer. What? You don't subscribe? You can easily fix that at https://mendonoma.com/memberships.html

Thanks to Shari for allowing me to share her photos with you here!

Sunny and mild here in Anchor Bay. But there is a big fog bank lurking and keeping the temps mild.

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Ron LeValley was on a pelagic trip out of Fort Bragg when he spotted a Blue Whale. In the first photo the Blue Whale is surfacing.

Here you see the tiny dorsal fin. Since the Blue Whale is believed to be the largest animal ever to live on earth, it's rather ironic that the dorsal fin is so small.

The tail is big though!

What a thrill this must have been to be so close to this huge Blue Whale!

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with  you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

 

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Ron LeValley went on a pelagic trip out of Fort Bragg. He, and the others with him, did not see many birds, but they did see two Blue whales quite close to their boat. In the first photo, the whale had just spouted. And in the second photo the big whale is descending.

blue-whale-off-fort-bragg-by-ron-levalley blue-whale-came-close-to-our-boat-by-ron-levalleyTo see a Blue whale, the largest creature of them all, is incredibly exciting. Here are three photos Ron took a few years ago, also on a pelagic trip. The first shows you a blow, the second shows the Blue whale's tiny dorsal fin, and the last shows you a Blue whale's tail.

blue-whale-spout-by-ron-levalley a-blue-whales-small-dorsal-fin-by-ron-levalley blue-whales-tale-by-ron-levalleyUnless you are at the Farallon Islands/Cordell Banks, you are not likely to see more than two Blue whales at a time. They very rarely breach, like Gray whales and Humpback whales do; they are just too big.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Last Thursday Allen Vinson had his camera in hand when he and Craig Gilliland spotted a huge spout.

The tall spout of a Blue Whale by Allen Vinson

Then a second whale appeared.

Two Blue Whales by Allen Vinson

I wonder if this might be a mother/calf pair. The Blue Whales were quite a ways out - Allen was using his long lens to get these photos. Here are a few more looks.

Blue Whale 2 by Allen Vinson Blue Whale 3 by Allen Vinson

This last photo shows you what Allen and Craig were seeing from the bluffs. This is the time of year we are more likely to see a Blue Whale, the largest creature on earth. Very much endangered still, as their numbers have been slow to increase after whaling was stopped.

It's a wonderful sighting, that's for sure. And two Minke Whales were spotted earlier the same day.

Thanks to Allen for allowing me to share his photos with you here.