[CINC] Condor Express May 31, 2009

[Toni Bailey]

Here's the Talley

 

7 Humpbacks

1 Minke

3 small pods of common dolphins

Sea Lions Everywhere!

 

For the Birds..

12 Pigeon Guillemots

4 black Oystercatchers

Tons of sooty shearwaters

Gulls..Pelicans...Cormorants

 

It was a cool and overcast morning and the sea gave us a smooth ride.
Right away Captain Matt spotted 2 adult humpbacks with a calf.  One of the
adults was Rope..the humpback with the big rope scar behind its head.
Along the with the three humpbacks was a group of common dolphins milling
around nearby.   One Minke also decided to join us briefly and then
disappeared.    The three humpbacks were very comfortable around us and
showed off their tail flukes for us many times.  After awhile with these
whales, we left the area and headed towards the Islands.   A short time
later we came across another pair of humpbacks that we watched for awhile.
We then headed towards Santa Cruz again.   In between Santa Cruz and Santa
Rosa, we saw another pair of humpbacks and watched them for a little while
before time grew short and we headed to the painted cave.   On the way to
painted cave, we saw more humpbacks in the distance but had no time to visit
them.

 

The cruise along the side of Santa Cruise towards the painted cave was
marvelous as always...this is where we saw many birds and sea lions of
course.

 

The crowd of 54 passengers was very pleased at the end of the day.    It was
a wonderful trip with fellow naturalist Carole Rosales and Kevin Bailey on
Photo ID.

 

Toni Bailey

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.rain.org/pipermail/channel_islands_naturalist_corps/attachments/20090531/3b67b5df/attachment.html>