After 37 years, an Albatross!

It's been a long wait but after a very long wait since I first dipped the Black-browed Albatross on Hermaness in '76 (and subsequently in three other years) I finally have an Albatross on my list in the form of three Black-footed Albatrosses from the whale watching trip out of Monterey. The sea was very choppy and it was the first time they'd gone out for four days because of the strong westerlies and it had been touch and go whether this trip would go.

We were glad it did though for the majority of the four hours it was concentrating on not being sick and following the horizon. We jammed in on a mother and calf Humpback Whale after only 45 minutes and stayed with them for  another hour or so before heading out to the canyon where I picked up several Sooty Shearwaters. Then the guide called out the Albatross on the other side of the boat. I managed some shaky binolcuar views of the large brown Albatross as it sheared over the waves and I picked up another two a few minutes later.

There wasn't anything else of note until we neared the end of the trip when we had a pod of Risso's Dolphins that gave us good views.

Comments