Gray
Whale Migration Update: March 22, 2006
Today's Report Includes:
- Gray Whale Migration Off the California Coast: Latest Data and Graphs
- Moving North: How Far Can They Go? Link to Lesson
- Ice, A Cool Subject: Challenge Question #4
- Counting Babies: Field Notes From Pt. Piedras Blancas
- Field Notes from ACS/Channel Islands
- Field Notes from ACS/Los Angeles
- How Far Offshore? Link to Lesson and Challenge Question #5
- Hundreds of Whales: Field Notes from Two Nursery Lagoons
- Discussion of Challenge Question #3
- Celebrating Gray Whales: Festival News
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Gray Whale Migration Off the California Coast: Latest Migration Data and Graphs
Have you checked the gray whale migration on the map server? The captains of whale-watch vessels and other volunteers are sending wonderful photos and comments to our data base. Thank you, Journey North Whale Observation Posts!
Moving North: How Far Can They Go?
Whales are passing Oregon! Here’s the latest northernmost sighting:
“We had our first whale sighting today--due West from the Newport jetty tips. The boat had 3-4 adult gray whales around the boat as they are moving north!” (Julia from Newport, Oregon, March 19)
How far can gray whales go as they journey north to feed and breed in the Bering and Chukchi Seas? Only as far as the melting sea ice allows! You can see how the ice pack changes by looking at daily and monthly ice maps. See the simple steps in our new lesson. As you watch the sea ice change and note them in your journal, try to predict when the gray whales will reach the end of their migration. Jump in:
- Link to Lesson: Gray Whales and Changing Sea Ice
Counting Whales Passing Oregon: Spring 2006 official “Watch Week” is Saturday, March 25 through Saturday April 1. For more information:
- Whale Watching Spoken Here (Oregon Parks and Recreation Department)
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Ice, A Cool Subject: Challenge Question #4
How does the arctic sea ice change over years and decades? To find out, scientists must collect long-term data. By doing this, they have discovered some alarming changes. You saw maps and thought about this in the lesson above. Now you’re ready to send us your answers to this week’s two-part challenge:
Challenge Question #4
“What do your ice map findings tell you about changes in sea ice thickness and extent? List at least three ways you think sea ice changes — and related changes — could affect gray whales and other marine animals.”
- To respond to this Challenge Question, please follow these instructions.
Counting Babies: Field Notes From Pt. Piedras Blancas
March 13 was day one of Wayne Perryman’s calf census. Wayne is a biologist at NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center; he is the government's main specialist on calf birth rates. Wayne reported a beautiful day to start his 2006 calf count. He saw “about 104 adults and juveniles, and one cow/calf pair too.” Was it the pair seen the day before at the Channel Islands Post? A day’s swim would be about right. Here's more:
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| Wayne counts whale babies each March, April and May from Pt. Piedras Blancas, about a day’s whale-swim north of the Channel Islands. | "The point of land we are perched upon provides a lee from the NW winds we get most afternoons. So most of the time we are watching whales approach us through calm seas," says Wayne. | When he’s not working, Wayne likes riding the waves in his kayak. Nancy, the kayaking Welsh Terrier, goes with him. “She is a great little dog and if I go kayaking and I don't take her, she is miserable,” says Wayne! |
Field Notes from ACS/Channel Islands
| Michael
Smith says “We are waiting for March
to go out like a lamb. One day we began at 9 AM with a Beaufort
4 and left at 10:15 with at least a 6.” What does the Beaufort
Scale measure? Know that, and you’ll know why Channel
Islands whale watchers had one “zero sightings” day
and some very short viewing days. It’s been WINDY! Photo Michael H. Smith |
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Then
there was St. Patrick’s Day: “Nine northbound gray whales
does not sound like such an interesting day after twice as many yesterday
and recent days of 27, 17, 15, and 23,” said Michael Smith.
"But today was interesting." See why he says so:
“The morning was poor observation quality with two extended time outs for
a downpour and fog. Visibility was a maximum of just over a mile; we probably
shouldn't have been out at all. But we saw a whale right off the bat, which encouraged
us to hang around. But it became futile and we shut down before noon.
"On a chance, we headed out again at 1:00 to see IF we could see. The sun
was out and the ocean calm. Observation quality was now good. In the mud,
we cleaned binoculars and scanned back and forth: no whales. Time passed
and the observation quality continued to get better. No whales. Just before
3:00, we saw our first gray whale of the afternoon; and then the sightings
piled on top of one another. A single came by very close to shore, and then
two miles out a threesome blew by. A second group followed about a mile behind.
We watched that group swim into a charging wind of 20 to 25 knots.”
What speed were those winds, measured in miles per hour?
Knots X 1.51 = miles per hour
Field Notes from ACS/Los Angeles
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The
peak for the non cow/calf northward migration is
usually the last of February up to mid-March. From recent data, do
you think we're seeing the peak? |
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How Far Offshore? Link to Lesson and Challenge Question #5
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Click
on photo to enlarge. Then answer Challenge Question #5! |
Then come back and answer the question below.
Challenge Question #5:
"Pretend you're the whale watcher and fill in these blanks to call out the whale spout you see in the binoculars view: 'BLOW! ____ degrees at ___ mil. The whale is ___ miles (____ kilometers) offshore.'"Tips: Find the spout in the photo, read the compass degrees, and count the mils. Then use the chart in the lesson above to find the distance.
To respond to this Challenge Question, please follow these instructions.
Hundreds of Whales: Field Notes from Two Nursery Lagoons
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At Laguna San Ignacio, leader Johnny Friday of Baja Ecotours tells about 6-12 -year-olds visiting Campo Cortez to see the whales: "Christof and Sebastian enjoyed looking under the microscope at a gray whale's crustaceans while Tea, Elizabeth, and Piper spent hours on the mudflats looking at scallops, fish, and other marine organisms. Maddie, a future marine biologist, soaked up information about the ecosystems like a sponge. Each had the opportunity to pet adult and young gray whales and described their texture as similar to a sausage!" On March 16 Johnny added: "The calves are getting noticeably bigger; we estimate they've gained a couple feet in length and at least a hundred pounds during the last coupel months. We've also had our firrst noticeable decline in whale numbers. About two-thirds of the single adult whales have already begun their migration back to their feeding grounds in Alaska."
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Mom
and Calf
Photo Mike Hawe |
Discussion
of Challenge Question #3
Last time we said gray whales normally travel at about 3-5 miles per
hour (4.8-8.1 km/hr). We asked: "If
a gray whale and her calf swim more slowly, how long do you estimate
their journey takes if they swim a total of 6,000 miles from Mexico
to Alaska?"
If you were stumped, students from Ferrisburgh, VT and Iselin, NJ will lead the way! Take a look at their answers and you'll agree: OUTSTANDING!
Celebrating Gray Whales: Festival News
- Songs, Dances End 20th Annual Pacific Rim Whale Festival in Tofino, BC, Canada
- Whale Fest Kodiak, April 12-23, 2006
The Next Gray Whale Migration Update Will Be Posted on April 5, 2006.
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