The weekend of February 19, 20, and 21 brought good weather and good sighting conditions. The six survey teams, aerial and on the ground, from South Carolina to Florida covered the usual areas. In addition, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Team flew a survey offshore and south past Cape Canaveral. This combined effort recorded 71 sightings in three days, which were widely distributed throughout the region. The key to the plot is MC=mother-calf pair, GROUP=groups of 3 or more individuals, and SPR=singles and non-mother-calf pairs. Click on the plot to see a larger version.Mother-calf count update ... as of this date, 14 mother-calf pairs have been reported. The number is slowly creeping up. In one instance, female #3260 was observed by two aerial survey teams alone on one day and then by another team on the next day with a calf.
The February issue of Right Whale News is now posted to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium website at http://www.rightwhaleweb.org/. Click on the "current issue" tab for the February 2010 issue. Back issues are also available.
