Today's Report Includes:
- Whale Watching: News >>
- Tracking the Migration: A Slowdown! >>
- Explore: How Do Whales Navigate? >>
- Journal: Finding Your Way >>
- Discover: Gray Whale Enemy #1 >>
-
Links: Gray Whale Resources to Explore >>
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"It's spring in the Far North," writes Doug O'Harra. "The gray whales have been swimming past the mouth of Resurrection Bay near Seward and along Kodiak Island, well on their way toward summer feeding grounds in the Arctic." Meanwhile, whale traffic has slowed at both official counting stations (#5 and #6) on the California coast. They've had some bad weather in the past two weeks, but they still report amazing things. |
Read the news! >> |
|
What do the daily whale counts at our two California counting stations tell us?
- How do
counts at the two counting sites compare this week?
- If you're graphing gray whale data through the whole season, add the latest data. >>
Handout Questions About This Week's Data >>
Last time you learned about the order in which the whales migrate. But how do they know where to go? How do they find their way on a journey over 5,000 miles? It may not be easy:
• An April
16 news article told of a juvenile gray whale that seemed
lost
on its
migration
north to
Alaska.
The young whale has
been
hanging
around
San Francisco State University's marine
research facility. Biologists there have
nicknamed the whale "Little
B."
• Another
young whale spent a few weeks in Santa Barbara Harbour. >>
Do you think they'll find their way? How? >>
After thinking about the whales' epic migration, think of a "journey" that you have made in your life.
• (A) Think of a trip you made OR a series of steps you took in order to meet a goal. What were the dangers or scary parts? How did you face and overcome them?
• (B for Bonus) What are the big events (or milestones) that have occurred in your life? What advice or "wise words" have helped you to navigate your way on life's journey so far?
Mothers with babies travel slowly and close to shore — where they're safer from enemy orcas and great white sharks. Recently, many observers reported seeing orcas (killer whales). When the whale-watch boat Condor Express phoned Michael H. Smith about killer whales in the Channel, Michael wondered if the orcas' presence was affecting sightings at the Goleta counting site. "Probably not," he decided. "They had been a long way off and nowhere near the coast."
But killer whales are all along the migration trail. Last week Doug O'Harra published a news story about new killer whale research. "Among other things," Doug told Journey North, "scientists have documented that a small number of transient killer whales are intercepting gray whales near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula in May."
- Ask the Expert: Open April 6-20! >>
- Gray Whales for Kids: Baby Whales on the Move: Can You Spot Them? >>
- Read
and Write: Whale
Journey
>> - Identify: Which Whale Species? >>
- Compare: Behaviors of "Kodiak Killers" and Stellar Sea Lions >>
- Highlights: What's a Whale Doing in Santa Barbara Harbor? (slide show) >>
- Celebrate Gray Whales: Whalefest Kodiak (April 14-22) >>
The Next Gray Whale Migration Update Will Be Posted on May 2, 2007.
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