Today's Report Includes:
- Whale Watching: News from Observation Posts >>
- In the Field: Students Visit "Gray Whales Count" Site >>
- Journal: How Far Offshore? >>
- Research: Any Shut-eye Along the Way?>>
- Tracking the Migration: Using Daily Data ≥≥
- Year-end Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts! >>
-
Links: This Week's Gray Whale Resources ≥≥
Photo Bree Witteveen: taken
under NOAA Permit for Scientific Research
No. 1049-1718
Look at the color of the water. What do you think is happening? >>
|
More moms and calves have joined the parade, some escorted by bottlenose dolphins as they pass the counters for ACS/LA. One calf was riding on mom’s pectoral fin. It's an exciting time! The cows and calves are making progress. "We will all watch for the paired spouts of moms and calves hugging the coastline for the next few weeks," said Kati at Remote Passages Marine Excursions (map #15) after seeing their first cow/calf pair April 26. Sherry at Half Moon Bay (map #10 ) reports a northbound mother and calf on April 19 but hardly any other whales for the past month. How does she explain that? Meanwhile, single gray whales are seriously plowing nearer their feeding grounds, hungry for summer months of feeding. Dawn at Captain's Reel (map #11) reports seeing plenty of whales, but no mother/calf pair sighting yet. |
ACS/LA (map #6) Census Director Alisa Schulman-Janiger expects the calf count will markedly increase in the next two weeks as the cow/calf migration picks up. "Most of the single gray whales have now passed us, so the majority of the whales to come should be cows with their calves."
Michael Smith and his Counters (map # 7 ) are "still anticipating a waterway crowded with whales" as they await the cow/calf surge. And at the official government cow/calf census (map #8), Wayne Perryman reports: "We had great weather last week but we are only up to 43 calves so far. This is about the third slowest start in our 16-year time series. On the bright side, on Saturday (a day off because we don't have enough money in the budget to pay the observers overtime) we saw 13 pairs go through just in casual watching. So we can say it is a slow start but maybe we have a big pulse coming."
Stay tuned
to see what will happen next!
"We truly enjoyed that Bob Perry’s Master Class from Malibu High School spent a significant portion of the day with us," said Michael Smith one day last week. "They have been following our progress and the entire migration thanks to the invaluable Journey North reports. Today was their first field-work at Counter Point!" (Counter Point is the new nickname — because it's much easier to say than "Coal Oil Point." Try it and see!)
What did the students see and learn? Read on for a lesson that gives you a taste.
Master
Class from Malibu High School visited
Coal Oil Point (aka Counter Point) last week!
Photo Michael H. Smith
Whale watchers know the first sign of the gray whale will probably be its spout or “blow”—a bushy tower of spray. A blow may be visible for miles on calm days. It can be 15 feet tall! The explosive “whoosh” of the whale's exhalation might be heard a half mile away. But how can whale watchers tell how close or far that whale is? How do they call out the sighting so others can see it too? Mike shows you how: >> After your lesson with Mike, answer this question:
- If you hear a fellow whale-watcher call "BLOW, 300 degrees at 45 mil," how far offshore is that whale?
Write your answer (and what you would most enjoy about a personal day of whale watching) in your Gray Whale Journal. >>
Photo
Mike Hawe
A gray whale exhales when it surfaces, emptying lungs the size of a VW in a fraction of a second. The warm air is exhaled under such great pressure that the spouts can be 15 feet high! Do you see the spout? Find out more about these special binoculars for spotting whales. >>
Whale watchers aren't on duty around the clock, but they know that gray whales travel 24 hours a day during migration. Do you wonder if whales could possibly make their 5,000-mile journey north without any rest or sleep?
For many years, scientists were unsure about
whales and sleep. Searching for clues, a team of scientists studied a
rescued gray whale in a pool at Sea World. What
did they learn? What questions remain? Dig into what we know and what
we don’t
in The
Migration Trail:
Any Shut-eye Along the Way?
 |
| How is a whale's sleep like your sleep? How is it different? Fill in the chart at the end of this slide show to compare. |
Is the migration slowing? Are numbers what you expected? Observer comments say that fewer calves are being seen this year. Let's check the daily whale counts at our two California counting stations to see what's happening there.
Questions About This Week's Data >>
Will you take a few minutes to complete our Year-end Evaluation?
With your help, we can we document Journey North's reach, impact and value. We need comments like yours to keep the program going and growing.
Thank you! >>
Next time, the official counting will nearly be done. What do the scientists at Gray Whales Count, ACS/LA and Pt. Piedras Blancas hope to learn? Be sure to see our final report this season: May 13.
The FINAL Gray Whale Migration Update Will Be Posted on May 13, 2009.
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