A windy, yet sunny, day in the Santa Cruz Channel; the Grays are still southbound, and we had two large herds of Common Dolphins, plus a small pod of Risso's just outside the Painted Cave at Santa Cruz Island.
Snowy egret looking at the camera (Egretta thula). If you enlarge this you will see mud on the tip of the bill that goes up about 2 cm...maybe this egret was poking around in the sediments.
Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in the Santa Cruz Channel with the western end of Santa Cruz Island in the background. Also, a brown pelican flys in to take a look (Pelecanus occidentalis).
Delphinus FIVE in a wave 2009 01-31 SB Channel - 757modCROP
Risso's Dolphins (Grampus griseus) - if you look closely and enlarge this image you will see one surfing a small wave on the right edge, in the middle.