More typical Bering Sea weather today, but the birds and marine mammals did not seem to care. As we appreciated the island communities of St. Paul and St. George from a distance, the sky was filled with kittiwakes (black- and red-footed), fulmars, tufted puffins, glaucous-winged gulls, parakeet and crested auklets, and possibly the highlight for some of the bird enthusiasts on board, a couple of short-tailed albatross.
Several northern fur seals breached the stormy ocean surface on the way to/from the most northern fur seal rookery before one of our ABs, Jupyter, spotted larger blows ahead of the ship. Not only was the sky a frenzy of birds, at least five fin whales were feeding on the feast as well. Ocean currents where the seafloor drops off create a swelling of productivity which attracts the entire food chain to the area for the feast.
