December 28, 2008: Kayak Tour at Nick's Cove

What an unbelievable day!  There was light mist/rain off and on, but the air temp was pleasant (50's).  Not a breath wind, glassy calm all day.  Tomales Bay was absolutely ALIVE with bird and marine life.  Birds were literally covering the surface of the bay, from the Miller park boat ramp to Hog island, and beyond.  Just off the ramp was a large flock of Brandt's Geese,  making a lot of noise.  I love these small geese, with their white markings and neck ring.  Hunting season is open at Tom's Point, just two miles to the north.  These Brandt's are happily swimming in the protected zone.  Smart Geese!

As we launched and paddled away from

the ramp it was obvious from the bird activity that the Pacific Herring were in the bay full-on.  Large rafts of cormorants and Western Grebe's were stalking the herring schools.  Quite a few Common Loons were popping up with fish in their beaks.

When we got to Hog Island I was thrilled to see a group of White Pelicans sitting with the usual Browns.  These largest of the Pelican family are strikingly beautiful birds.  I explained to the group that, as opposed to the Brown's who make their living diving on fish, the Whites are surface feeders.  They circle up and herd the fish, then scoop them up with their huge beaks.  The ubiquitous Western and California sea gulls follow the Whites to get a fish that falls out of the beaks.  They will harass the Whites as well to get a better chance.  

Just as we past Hog Is sure enough the Whites flew off a hundred yards or so, sea gulls in tow, circled up and took their positions.   Paddling by I saw a few Bonaparte Gulls, very beautiful with white and black wing markings.  The Bonapartes are surface feeders and dive on fish  like terns do.  

The cormorants were chasing herring schools and making quite a commotion, as they like to do.

Quite a few seals popped up to look at us as we made our crossing, 

we saw at least a dozen. They were swimming lazily along, 

seemingly well fed, and lifted their heads up to view 

us as we paddled by.

We got to White's Gulch for a break, landed the boats, and got out the binoculars.  The elk were pretty high up on the hillsides, but there were lots of them.  It's amazing how the more you look the more you see, there must have been at least 50 visible on the slopes and gully's.

We did not have a lot of time, plus the kids were getting 

a little cold out of the kayaks, so

after about 15 - 20 minutes and some snacks we re-launched.  The tide was ebbing hard, so we paddled down to Pelican point, and let the current drift us back to Hog Is, then crossed to the boat ramp.

All in all a stellar day on the bay!

NOTE: Elk photo is by Chris Smith.  Hog Island photo is by Charlie Chen.  All other photos are by John Granatir