Date: 5/2/25 4:50 pm From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: [SFBirds] Noyo Pelagic trips May 9, 11, and 12, weather looks good.
Hello Bay Area birders,
There are still some spaces left on our three pelagic trips, Friday May
9 (full day), Sunday May 11 (full day), and Monday May 12 (half day). At
this point the weather is looking very good, NW at 10 kts in the morning
on Friday, increasing to 20 in the afternoon (by which time we'll be in
following seas) and light winds or calm on the 11th and 12th. This of
course can change but at this time of year the forecasts tend to be
pretty accurate.
In addition to the Short-tailed Albatross and 600-1,000 Black-footed
Albatrosses we found in Noyo Canyon on April 26th, there have been
reports from reposition cruises of many Murphy's and some Cook's and
Hawaiian Petrels in Mendocino waters, just west of where we will be. The
deep waters in which we will be going are known for Pterodroma, and
encountering some seems likely, especially with 10-20 kt NW winds. Two
years ago we found 30+ Murphy's and 5 Hawaiian Petrels on May 5th out
there. With all of the albatrosses around, we're also hoping that we may
get one of the southern species (White-capped, Salvin's, Chatham,
Wandering, etc.) that have been encountered in California waters during
spring and summer months.
Hope to see some of you up here!
Cheers, Peter
On 4/18/2025 7:17 AM, Peter Pyle wrote:
> Hello again Bay Area birders:
>
> The full 2025 calendar for Noyo Pelagics trips is now available and
> ready for sign-ups:
>
> https://noyopelagics.com/#calendar >
> This and the other pages at the website are mostly complete but work
> is still needed to the bottom of each page. See below in this email
> thread for further information on Noyo Pelagics.
>
> Anchor Charters skipper Richard Thornton reported a concentration of
> close to 1000 Black-footed Albatrosses north of Noyo Canyon last week
> and, weather permitting, we may try and relocate this concentration
> during our full-day trip of Sunday, August 27th. About 15 albatrosses
> were also seen from shore two days ago, including two that followed a
> fishing boat to within a half mile of the harbor entrance. The next
> 2-3 months represent the peak period for numbers of this species off
> our coast.
>
> The long-range forecast for the April 26th and 27th trips is for light
> to moderate NW winds which are good conditions for getting the full
> trips in, although it is still a bit too early to say if this forecast
> will hold. We also have two full-day and one half-day trip planned for
> May 9th-12th, representing the only time this year we are trying two
> full-day trips in one weekend. So if you'd like to come up for two or
> 2 and a half trips, this would be the weekend. It coincides with our
> finding 30+ Murphy's Petrels, five Hawaiian Petrels, and 9 Laysan
> Albatrosses on a full-day trip two years ago.
>
> Hope to see you up here this spring or later in the year!
>
> Peter
>
>
> On 4/11/2025 7:40 AM, Peter Pyle via groups.io wrote:
>> Greetings again Bay Area -
>>
>> Our two April trips (see below) are filling but there are still
>> opportunities to sign up. The website is still under construction but
>> we have set up a method in order to sign up. The prices are $125 for
>> the half-day trip on April 26th and $185 for the full day trip on the
>> 27th.
>>
>> To sign up go to
>> https://noyopelagics.com/times-directions-and-parking/. Scroll down
>> to the bottom of that page and in the small calendar for April click
>> on the 26th for the half-day trip and the 27th for the full day trip.
>>
>> Once you have made a reservation, it will ask if you want to add any
>> more trips before paying. So if you want to do both days, you can add
>> the second trip and pay all at once.
>>
>> You can also see the report from our most recent half-day trip to
>> Noyo Canyon here:
>> https://noyopelagics.com/pelagic_calendar/monday-half-day-noyo-canyon-mammals-and-birds/ >>
>>
>> The Home Page at the above site has the full calendar and the "About
>> our Trips" page is also complete except the list of birds and mammals
>> at the bottom. We hope to have the website fully completed in the
>> next week or so.
>>
>> Hope to see you that weekend!
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> On 4/4/2025 10:34 AM, Peter Pyle wrote:
>>> Greetings Bay Area -
>>>
>>> Mendocino Coast Audubon Society and Noyo Center for Marine Science
>>> Center will be running a number of pelagic trips out of Fort Bragg
>>> this year. There will be a website with the complete schedule of
>>> full-day trips, half-day trips, and 2-hour trips to do marine
>>> science including deploying ROVs when conditions are good. Pending
>>> the website's launch (hopefully soon) you can call Anchor Charters
>>> at 707-964-4550 to reserve a spot.
>>>
>>> The first two trips of the season will be on April 26th (half day,
>>> five hours ) and April 27th (full day, 10 hours). We will aim for
>>> the Noyo Canyon on both trips and and over the continental shelf on
>>> the full-day trip. This was the weekend where, many years ago, we
>>> went out to deep water and had 100+ Murphy's Petrels (confirming
>>> them for the state) and 130+ Horned Puffins out in these waters.
>>> Laysan Albatrosses have been regular over Noyo Canyon this year and
>>> a Short-tailed Albatross was spotted by fisherman there in early March.
>>>
>>> Future full-day trips this year will be on May 9th and 11th, June
>>> 15th, July 15th, August 15th, September 7th, October 31st, and
>>> November 22nd. Most of these will have half-day trips scheduled
>>> within a day or so, such that those coming up to enjoy the Mendocino
>>> coast can make a long weekend of it and include two pelagic trips.
>>>
>>> We'll announce when the website is up with full details. Hope to see
>>> you up here this April or later in the year.
>>>
>>> Good birding!
>>>
>>> Peter
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
