A Day in Monterey
After our walk of the previous 4 days, Kate and I were not highly ambitious on Saturday morning. Following breakfast at the inn, we took an Uber to Point Pinos with the plan to walk along the Asilomar Trail for about 2 miles. The coast at Point Pinos is rocky which we thought might be a nice shift from the sandy beaches we had hiked from Santa Cruz. Above is a Pelagic Cormorant we saw cruising by at the beginning of our walk.
Our walk was a very slow meander. When we saw this pair of Sea Otters playing, we gladly stopped for a while to watch.
One of the birds I was keeping an eye out for was a Surfbird. They had been reported here, and seeing it would be add new Life List bird for me. I saw this bird flying by, snapped some photos, and was delighted to see it was my Surfbird.
At the end of our walk, while we waited for the Uber to take us back to our Inn, I saw this Great Egret nearby posing nicely for a headshot.
After lunch, Kate headed to the Monterey Aquarium while I headed out for a whale watch. As we left the harbor, this Sea Lion was basking on a large buoy.
Near another buoy was a scrum of Sea Lions in the water. I have no idea why they were clustered the way they were.
With the clear blue sky and bright sun, the ocean was a beautiful rich blue as seen in this photo of a Common Loon.
Common Murres were scattered throughout the shallows as we departed.
I believe that Bonaparte’s Gulls are perhaps the most common little gull in the US. However, I had never seen a baby chick before. So adorable.
As we searched for whales, I snapped pictures of any birds that I did not immediately recognize. The only new bird I photographed was this Rhinoceros Auklet off in the distance. This bird represented the 500th species that I have seen in the United States since I started birding. Of those 500, I have seen 473 of them this year. I saw 202 bird species last year which was my biggest year before 2025.
Monterey Bay has a trench that is more than 2 miles deep. This is one reason why there are so many whales in the bay. While it took some time, we eventually came upon a group of 3 Humpback Whales. Humpback Whales in fact do not have a humped back. It is simply the shape they make when they dive.
Besides looking for spouts, another way to figure out where the whales might be is to look for gulls. The gulls feed around the whales. Apparently, one of the reasons that whales breach is to clean their bodies. This leaves yummy tidbits for the birds to snack on.
Here is a nice view of a Humpback Whale and its full tail.
One of the whales breached sufficiently close to the boat that it would not fit into my frame.
After watching the pod of Humpback Whales for perhaps 45 minutes, we started back towards Monterey searching for more whales as we went. As it turned out, we got very lucky and saw this pod of Orca Whales.
The guides on the boat could identify every single whale we saw based on identifying features such as the dorsal fins, tails, and patches. This pod is a mother with her 4 offspring. The sun was starting to set, so we only spent about 15 minutes with the Orcas.
As we neared the harbor, the sun slipped below the horizon leaving a beautiful sunset behind.
Off the boat, I wandered off Old Fisherman’s Wharf to meet up with Kate and get some dinner.