Noyo Center Talks Science
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
6:00 PM on Zoom
Albatrosses, Sharks, and other Great Migrations
Across the Pacific
Guest Presenter: Peter Pyle
Ornithologist and Marine Biologist
Discover the impressive movement patterns of albatrosses, sharks and other open-ocean creatures as Peter Pyle, wildlife biologist with the Institute for Bird Populations, presents his research on Transpacific Migration. Find out how Pacific Ocean and other migrants overcome the hardships and risks of long-distance travel through and over the inhospitable and food deprived central Pacific Ocean. The great flights of Black-footed Albatrosses, which come 4000 miles to California to get food for their chicks, and the migrations of Great White Sharks to the mis-named "shark cafe" will be primary focuses of this talk. In addition, he will discuss the fasting of turtles, tuna, salmon, and other marine animals, as well as the surprising over-water journeys of various shorebirds, land birds, insects, and bats, and he will put all this information into conservation contexts.
Peter Pyle has worked as an ornithologist and marine biologist throughout the Pacific. During the 1980-2000's much of his research was conducted on birds and white sharks at the Farallon Islands, California. and he is now an identification specialist and consultant for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary's Beach Watch program. He is a Research Associate both at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, and the B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. To date he has authored over 200 papers in scientific journals and five books and has described a new species of shearwater (Puffinus bryani) and named it after his grandfather. Peter currently works remotely as a staff biologist for the Institute for Bird Populations, Petaluma, and resides near Fort Bragg, where he is working with Noyo Center for Marine Science and the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society to promote more wildlife viewing trips from Noyo Harbor: https://noyopelagics.com/.
Photo: Peter Pyle