Kate Spencer, Artist & Naturalist

Made this quick sketch on my Samsung Note 20 when I heard there were killer whales at Moss Landing today. Follow my whale watching company, Fast Raft, to see what we see out there!

Orca Alert!
Killer whales are harassing three gray whales just outside Moss Landing right now!

Sketch by Captain ©Kate Spencer while Captain readies the Fast Raft to join the party! Want to see them? Message if you can hop on at 1pm TODAY 3-27-26, or snag the last tickets for this weekend! Book online at our website or call 831-324-4883. It's orca season!

HAPPY SPRING!
Here are tips to help wildlife: leave dead tree trunks up (trimmed for safety if necessary) for birds & more; manage outdoor lighting carefully for migrating birds & local wildlife; and help turtles across the road in the direction they're going.
Wild things all thank you!

Great infographics by Nadilyn Beato (https://reptilearts.com/), Abigail Malate at Inside Science (), and unknown via South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources. Keep up the fantastic work, wildlife artists!

Whales from shore in Monterey and Pacific Grove today! See the blows by the whale watching boats? Must be at least ten humpback whales visible from Lover's Point! Go for a walk while the sun is out. I heard they can see them from the Aquarium too. A cow-calf pair is among them. Happy summer!

Just concluded an epic four days of checking pitfall traps in the early mornings to monitor amphibians, especially endangered California tiger salamanders, on the beautiful Fort Ord National Monument between Monterey and Salinas. Our group of volunteers included graduate students, naturalists, and some very enthusiastic kids. We didn't see any CTSes but did find chorus frogs, western toads, Ensatina salamanders, shrews, and many nifty arthropods like centipedes, big spiders, roly polies, and beetles, and one astonishing 14" - long nematode. It was great fun and I learned a lot about Central California's native flora and fauna and enjoyed sharing in the children's joy of discovery.

After Wednesday's trap checking, I said yes to a rare adventure by following the official botanist on closed roads into the backcountry to meet the Peruvian shepherds and goatherds and their. These browsing herbivores are helping to control invasive plants so the native bunch-grasses and wildflowers can thrive. It was stunningly beautiful, after heavy rain and hail, to see parts of the reserve that are remote and rarely visited. From the hilltops I could see Monterey Bay and in the valleys it felt like we were hundreds of miles from any town.

Huge thanks to Bruce Delgado, botanist with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Mayor of the City of Marina, for facilitating the continued monitoring of this study site after a PhD student from UCLA finished his work. Here's hoping the data helps to support wild native tiger salamanders. The experience definitely helped nurture the next couple of generations of conservationists.

Wonderful photos of the elusive harbor porpoise, from across the Atlantic at EcoVentures Cromarty on the Moray Firth. Harbor porpoises are usually boat shy, and I've never seen anyone get photos like these in California. What luck to look into those curious eyes!

https://www.ecoventures.co.uk/

The pod of 12+ Bigg's killer whales had already killed a gray whale calf when whale watching boats arrived. We enjoyed their intensely social activity as they tore it up just below the surface, and saw them on sonar as the carcass sank to 200 feet in the deep canyon and they pulled it up again. Albatrosses gathered to feast on the scraps and humpbacks charged in to interfere with the party.

We also saw Risso's dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins, and several humpbacks that were feeding near the Moss Landing Harbor.

Join us: www.fastraft.com
Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay
Photo © Kate Spencer, captain & naturalist

Exquisite underwater view of a minke whale in Antarctica. Take a moment to watch and bask in the beauty.

Rare footage of minke whale a 'lucky shot' NZ scientists have described spectacular rare footage of a minke whale gliding through icy Antarctic waters as a "lucky shot" while trialling new...