Early Birds: Black-footed Albatross

Black-footed Albatross-- Photo by Tony Thomas

This photo was taken by one of our volunteers, Tony Thomas on a whale watching trip we had on Friday, April 1st. While we were out observing gray whales, we saw a couple of black-footed albatross flying near by and around the boat; but as we were heading in to Moss Landing, we came across the largest gathering of them we have ever seen. It's more common to see albatross in the bay July-October since most stay by their breeding grounds in Hawaii November-June. If you're seeing black-footed albatross in April, it means that those individuals are most likely non-breeders or failed breeders, i.e. they don't have chicks to care for and are free to head out to sea and feed.