With the
help of additional photos, including some from David Ogg of Mobile Team 3 (one
is to the right), the second right whale in the 23 January sighting has been
identified as Whale #4057. This juvenile was born in 2010 and we saw him/her
(gender unknown) as a calf six times in January and February. The following
December, we sighted him/her again as a yearling. The identity of Whale #3860
also was confirmed, so we have previous history with both of these whales.
Our
colleagues with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) documented
these two juveniles on 26 January about 13 nm SE of the St. Johns River Inlet
during their aerial survey. The whales didn’t stay in our area for long, but
what a treat they gave us!
On
Monday, 28 January, the AirCam survey team discovered a humpback whale off Crescent Beach near State Road 206. It remained
mostly submerged, surfacing only to breathe. We were able to obtain photographs
that Katie Jackson of FWCC compared to those of two other humpbacks sighted by
their aerial teams. Our photographs were of a different whale. Note the long
white pectoral fins and small dorsal fin about 2/3’s along the whale’s back
from its head that differentiate it from a right whale. 
