HALF MOON BAY, Calif. >> A dead whale has been found on a Half Moon Bay beach, one of three dead whales to have been spotted on a San Francisco Bay Area beach since April.

California Academy of Sciences spokeswoman Haley Bowling tells the San Francisco Chronicle the whale is thought to be a gray whale.

Bowling says the whale could be the same one spotted floating offshore within the last two days.

She says scientists from the academy were en route to the scene but that the whale could easily be carried out by the tide before researchers get a chance to examine it.

The Half Moon Bay whale showed up as crews in Pacific were digging holes to bury two whales that washed up there over the previous month.