Yes, Bottlenose Dolphins have been seen off our coast. They include the matriarch, Sakura! Shari Goforth got photos last week.
This pod was seen again a few days ago off the Point Arena Lighthouse and headed south. Both Shari and Sara Bogard got photos, which I hope to share soon.
In Shari's photo above there appears to be a young one!
Thanks to Shari for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
It's beautiful here today, low 70's.
Bottlenose Dolphins were seen two weeks ago, always an exciting sighting. Karen Wilkinson wrote, “Dolphins were swimming off of Black Point Beach this morning. A few things that seemed interesting: One had a bite mark on its side. I think one was swimming with a fish in its mouth. And they seemed to be swimming in the rip tide area.”
Karen sent her photos to Bill Keener, a Research Biologist, and Bottlenose Dolphin expert, at the Marine Mammal Center. Bill studied the photos and wrote, “I got two surprises – a regularly-seen female named Cepat had just been seen down in Monterey Bay at the very end of March, so they really do move around! And note that Cepat had some new low notches at that time in late March. Now she has moved all the way up to Sonoma, and we get to see her other side, which displays a new large linear semi-circular scar, which might be a huge bite mark. But I don't think so because I don't really see teeth marks there.
“Also, I think the other adult seen with her might be Papercut, another female in our catalog, but we have not seen that dolphin since it was at Pacifica in 2016. I wondered what happened to her.
Both these dolphins used to be well known in Monterey Bay, before they moved up north to the SF Bay Area, so I am sending all this to the Monterey Bay researcher to check this out. If he says anything interesting, I will let you know.” The third dolphin, the photo at the top here, is currently unknown to Bill.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here, and thanks to Bill for all the wonderful info on the known dolphins.
Heatwave inland is over. Foggy on the immediate coast today. Rick's and my house, at 640 feet elevation, is the fog line this afternoon - it's sunny in the courtyard, and foggy on the deck facing the ocean!
Karen Wilkinson was the first to spot them early last Wednesday morning. She called Craig Tooley, who showed up with his camera and his talent soon thereafter. Here are a couple of photos taken by Craig.
The seabirds in the first photo are Surf Scoters. I love the photo showing so many dolphins surfing a wave together - the original surfers!
Researcher and scientist Bill Keener was able to identify six of the eleven dolphins, and one was our old friend, Sakura. Sakura was photographed off the Mendonoma Coast in 2018 and in 2020 she was seen with her calf. Here is the study of this group of Bottlenose Dolphins by Bill, just click on the link below.
Bottlenose Dolphins 2022 Jan 12 CT Bill Keener
I plan to share some of Karen's photos and videos of these dolphins soon.
Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com
Another lovely, clear day on the Mendonoma Coast today. 68 degrees at our place in Anchor Bay this afternoon.
Any day you see dolphins feels like a gift, but Thanksgiving Day? Perfection. Sara Bogard spotted a small pod off of the Point Arena Lighthouse bluffs. And there was a calf in the pod!
If you look closely at the smaller dolphin, you will see creases, lines on its body. These are fetal folds, showing this is a newborn, a neonate, Bottlenose Dolphin! How wonderful is that?
Sunny, warm, no wind - just about perfect if we weren't longing for rain!
NEWS FLASH! Scott and Tree Mercer saw the first, the vanguard, of the Gray Whale southward migration yesterday, Wednesday. Yes, it's begun and the show is appearing off a bluff near you!
Mike Petrich was at Black Point Beach on The Sea Ranch on Sunday. Bottlenose Dolphins had been spotted and a few people were called to photograph them. Keeping at least six feet from others, Mike got a very interesting photo with a surfer catching a wave, and three of these dolphins underneath him!
I wonder if the surfer saw the dolphins. What a fun photo!
Bottlenose Dolphins are expanding their territory northward, and we are seeing them more often. I think these dolphins were the original surfers, and they sure seem to enjoy surfing the waves.
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Brisk, sunny with clouds, with rain coming in later tonight. We need it, we welcome it!