BOTL Injured Right Whale

We received a report that the Georgia aerial survey team spotted an injured whale, Right whale Catalog #3670 (Cherokee) yesterday near Jekyll Island. She has entanglement wounds and is missing part of her right lip. Cherokee’s physical condition is not good. Her skin is very light grey and appears white in some places, especially across the top of her head. This along with the missing chunk of lip will likely look different from a typical right whale when viewed from shore. At the time of yesterday’s sighting, she was traveling south at 3 knots, a fairly rapid speed for a right whale. She is very thin, so warmer water will not necessarily deter her from continuing south. Please keep this description in mind and Be On The Lookout for this whale if you are on the coast. Better documentation of her injuries is sorely needed.

First Right Whales In the SE US

Despite the warmer temperatures, right whales have begun to appear in the calving grounds! Two days ago, our colleagues with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission aerial survey team discovered two mother/calf pairs, one, Catalog #3317, close to shore in Ponte Vedra. Click on this link to see photos from both sightings; https://www.flickr.com/photos/myfwc/sets/72157661057518451.

We documented Catalog #3317 in our study area as a calf in 2003 and saw her again as a juvenile in 2006. We have not seen Catalog #3115 in our area, but Jim Hain photographed her in the Bay of Fundy in August 2002.

Humpbacks, too, have made an appearance. One was documented by local photographer Tony Caruso around 12:30 PM from 16th St. N in Flagler Beach. Follow this link to see those photos: https://picsbytony.smugmug.com/Animals/Whales/Whale20151211

Dust off those binoculars and get ready! The season is upon us and it’s time to start looking seaward for those telltale signs. We expect to begin flying aerial surveys with the Air Cam next week. To report a sighting, call me at 904-669-8615 or Julie on the right whale hotline 1-888-979-4253.

Preparing for Season #16

With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s time to think about the return of right whales to our shores. This will be season No. 16 for us and, with the unpredictability of the whales in recent seasons, we can hardly wait to see what they have in store for us!

HELP NEEDED NEXT WEEKEND, 13-15 NOVEMBER

Our first event leading up to the whales’ return is The Town of Marineland’s 75th Anniversary Celebration. Taking place over three days, Nov. 13 to 15, the Town will celebrate its past, present, and future, one theme for each of the three days. In addition to being the location of our Project’s headquarters, Marineland has a long history of its scientists documenting right whale presence along Florida’s coastline. On Sunday the 15th, we will tell that story as well as feature our current right whale research with an exhibit at the celebration. Naturally, we also will be handing out phone cards and encouraging people to join our surveys! For more information on this event check out www.gomarineland.com.

One week later, the 7th Annual Right Whale Festival in Jacksonville Beach, celebrating the return of the whales to NE Florida, will be held on Nov. 21 at the Sea Walk Pavilion. In order to focus on the Marineland event, the Project will not have a booth there this year. But, this is a worthwhile event to attend.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

In December, we will offer Introductory Talks in Palm Coast, Ormond Beach,  St. Augustine Beach, and Flagler Beach. The Survey Training Class is scheduled two days before surveys begin and will focus on the training of surveyors. If you plan to join the dedicated surveys, please do your best to attend to have the latest information on data collection and our plans for the season. See below for the complete schedule.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR THE 2015-16 SEASON

The Town of Marineland 75th Anniversary Celebration
Friday, November 13 to Sunday, November 15, 2015
Around the Marineland Marina
www.gomarineland.com

Right Whale Festival
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Sea Walk Pavilion
Jacksonville Beach
www.rightwhalefestival.com

Right Whale Introductory Talks for new volunteers, surveyors and spotters alike, and anyone wanting to know how to spot right whales. If you are a returning volunteer and would like a refresher, by all means join us. (Encourage friends and neighbors to attend!):

Friday, Dec. 4, 2015
10:00 AM to 11:30 PM
Flagler County Public Library
2500 Palm Coast Parkway, NW
Palm Coast

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Ormond Beach Public Library
30 S. Beach St.
Ormond Beach

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015
2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Anastasia Island Branch
St. Johns County Public Library
124 Sea Grove Main St.,
St. Augustine Beach

Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015
6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Ocean Art Gallery
200 S. Oceanshore Blvd (A1A)
Flagler Beach, FL

Survey Training Class for ALL SURVEY volunteers, new and returning, who are planning to participate in the dedicated survey effort:

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016
2:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Center for Marine Studies, Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
9505 Ocean Shore Blvd., Marineland

Surveys Start:
Monday, Jan. 4, 2016

Surveys End:
Sunday, March 13, 2016

OTHER RIGHT WHALE NEWS

The Marineland Right Whale Project report for the 2014-15 season is posted at www.aswh.org. The link is located in the lower left of the homepage. It is an excellent review of last season and the Project’s objectives.

Humpbacks Make an Appearance

After all the wind and fog last week, Sunday through Tuesday provided three good days for aerial surveys and we took advantage of them. Although we saw no right whales, two humpback whales, on separate days, made the flights exciting.

On Monday, we spotted the first one about two miles east of Highbridge Road in North Peninsula State Park. It bobbed up and down slightly in the water and

blew a few times, but was otherwise motionless as though resting. The telltale white pectoral fins and small dorsal fin about 2/3’s from the head are clearly visible in the photo to the right.

Tuesday’s humpback whale was a completely different story. It surfaced as we passed over top of it, about a half mile from shore in S. Flagler Beach, very actively swimming north, accompanied by a phalanx of dolphins. We made a few circles and each time we were in range for

photos, it submerged. Rising gusty winds aloft forced us to abandon further attempts for photos and we had to be content with the one to the right. If you look closely at Monday’s whale, you will see a mottled white patch on the leading edge of the left fluke, which is not present in the photo of Tuesday’s whale, leading us to believe that these were two different whales.

In addition to the whales, these surveys revealed the arrival of large numbers of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles just offshore. On Tuesday, when we sighted the greatest numbers, we documented just over 100 loggerheads and 60 leatherbacks.

Right Whale Mother and Calf in Crescent Beach

As if to underline our assertions that the season is not yet over, Julie Albert of Marine Resources Council called Jim Thursday shortly before 11:00 AM with a Hotline report of whales near the Crescent Beach Ramp. Team 1, led by Judi Kaczor, was valiantly working around the fog and hurried to Crescent Beach Park when Jim called them. Jim and Joy arrived about 30 min. later. Within another 20 min. or so, the obscuring fog suddenly cleared and Joy spotted a mother and calf right whale shortly afterward, to the north about a mile. Team 1 went to Judi’s house, about a 1/2 mile north on the ocean, and reported that the whales were to the north, but visible. Jim and Joy briefly checked Frank Butler Park to the north of Judi’s house, looking for possible public access to view the whales, but they were too far south, so Jim and Joy joined the team at Judi’s.

Mother and calf drifted ever so slowly south and Jim was able to get good photos. This southward motion stopped before they reached our position and they drifted back north again. We broke for a late lunch, then reacquired them from the Mary Street ramp (north of Frank Butler Park), virtually in the same position we had left them earlier. We moved back to Crescent Beach Park, where Judi contacted us around 4:15 PM to confirm our observations of little movement along the coast. We secured the watch about 30 min. later. 

Our colleagues with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission identified the whales as Catalog #2223, Calvin, with her third calf. Yes, Calvin was named before her gender was known. This is the first time that we have documented Calvin in our study area. We certainly enjoy seeing new faces and appreciate their timing to keep us fired up for our last days of survey.

Right Whale Season Déjà vu?

Hang on to your binoculars and cell phones! Despite our recent absence of sightings, the season may not be over yet. Reports from our colleagues have restored our optimism. Three new mother-calf pairs were sighted this past week. Nos. 15 and 16, Catalog #1620 (Mantis) and #2790, are females with calves that we have seen in our area in previous years. They were sighted by our colleagues with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Julie Albert with Marine Resources Council sighted no. 17 south of Cape Canaveral. This

mother is Catalog #3420 (Platypus) with her first calf in the photo to the right. Interestingly, she was documented off Georgia on
8 February while still pregnant and this is the first sighting of her with the calf. Yesterday, she was heading south, last seen in Melbourne Beach. Could she emulate Halo (Catalog #3546) from last year, who kept us busy with sightings until early April? It was one year ago yesterday that we flew the Air Cam to Sebastian to photograph Halo and her first calf.

This is a small, but promising late-season surge in activity. Keep your eyes peeled (when the fog lifts!) and your cell phone handy. Who knows how this will end!

Alert Volunteers Help with a Distressed Whale

Shortly after 10:00 AM Monday, Gary Phillips with Team 3 called Jim to report what appeared to be a dolphin in distress just off the end of Flagler Pier. Jim called George Beidenbach of the Georgia Aquarium Conservation Field Station (CFS), the organization authorized to respond to strandings in Flagler County.  George was already in Flagler Beach, north of the Pier, looking for the animal, which had stranded the evening before and had been pushed back out. Jim

called the Air Cam, which arrived at the Pier just before 11:00 AM, circling for photos as the small whale was being supported by a surfer.

Using a stretcher designed to carry small whales and dolphins, the CFS team, with help from bystanders, brought the animal ashore and identified it as a male dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima). The scrapes and cuts on the whale in the photo to the right likely resulted during the stranding the night before. These whales typically live far from shore and are rarely seen, except when they are seriously ill and strand. The whale died shortly after being

brought ashore. The CFS team transported him to their lab in Marineland and will conduct a necropsy. Thanks to the alert Team 3, the whale suffered less and valuable information from this rare event was preserved. Way to go!

Note: If you see a whale or dolphin in distress at the shoreline, DO NOT push it back out to sea. It is stranding for a reason. Instead, call 1-888-404-3922 to report it.

International Artist Donates Painting to Benefit the Project

Simon Bull, the English-born internationally known artist, donated a painting to help the Marineland Right Whale Project raise funds. Volunteers Penny Bellas and Becki Smith met Simon Bull at an art event in Orlando last year, where they shared their mutual interest in whales and art. Mr. Bull subsequently donated this painting “All About Love, XII” and we are holding a raffle.

The painting is valued at $625 and comes with a certificate of authenticity. It is on display at Ocean Art Gallery, 200 S. Oceanshore Blvd, Flagler Beach, Florida. Gallery hours are Tues. - Sun. 12 — 6 PM. Tomorrow and Saturday are a great time to preview the painting and buy your tickets. Ocean Art Gallery is having a reception featuring marine life art 6 — 9 PM on Friday and 1 — 4 PM and 6 — 9 PM Saturday. Refreshments will be served. Raffle tickets may be purchased, $10 each or 3 for $25, at the gallery. The drawing is on May 1 at 7:45 PM. All proceeds will benefit the Project.

The vibrant style depicted in this piece represents an evolution over a lifetime of painting that has included still life, landscapes, and abstracts. The heart motif has a personal significance for Mr. Bull and is found as a major theme in many of his recent paintings. His signature is often depicted with a heart. Mr. Bull was the official artist for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, serves as the official artist of the Muhammad Ali Foundation, and has received numerous awards during his lifetime of painting. To see the evolution of Mr. Bull’s work, visit his website at www.bullart.com and his Facebook page. For more information about Ocean Art Gallery, see www.flagleroceanartgallery.com.

Humpback Whale in Flagler Beach

The long stretch of “whale-less” days ended at 3:41 PM today with a call from Julie Albert from Marine Resources Council reporting a whale sighting in Flagler Beach. Team 3 surveyor Maryanne Gustafson heard from her neighbor that he had a whale in sight at N 17^th Ave. and Maryanne wasted no time in calling the MRC Hotline. Becki arrived at the walkover in less than 15 min. and soon spied the telling tiny dorsal fin as the whale swam back and forth almost 3/4 of a mile offshore. Joy and Jim arrived soon after and corroborated it as a humpback. It was too far offshore for photos and was showing very little of itself. We called the watch after about 30 minutes in the bone-chilling cold, hoping that the 60°F water sliding south along our coastline will soon bring us right whales, too.

Thrilling Start to Second Half of Our Right Whale Season

During our mid-season update last Saturday night, we described the poor weather and the paucity of whale sightings, suggesting that this season might be mirroring the last, when sightings picked up in the second half. How prophetic! At 9:01 Sunday morning the phone rang. Team Leader Larry Bell, en route to meet with Team 4, had sighted whales from the road. The Team, Becki, Jim, and the Georgia Aquarium Travelling Trevallies converged on Highbridge Road and verified a mother and calf, well to the south and moving very little. The Air Cam arrived shortly after 11:30 and obtained photos.

The pair was provisionally identified to be Catalog #1604 with her 5^th calf, the same pair that eluded us in the fog off Ormond Beach on 13 January. They were difficult again this day, too, remaining nearly stationary the entire day in an area of North Peninsula State Park where there was no parking along the road and, thus, no access to see them. We hoped the pair would come south to Ormond-By-The-Sea, but this did not happen.

Continuing south on their survey track 1.5 nm offshore, the Air Cam crew soon spotted a large group of dolphins about a mile to the east and flew out to investigate. As they approached, two right whales surfaced…another mother and calf! Circling for photos, the whales treated the crew to some noteworthy interactions, including the calf lying across mom’s back as seen in this

image. The mother was provisionally identified as Catalog #3693. The pair was last seen on 22 January off Melbourne and reported by the Marine Resources Council (MRC). Wow, two pairs in one day, within a few miles of one another. What a great start to the second half of our season!

Then, Monday dawned and it got even better. Photographer Ed Siarkowicz, on Flagler Pier, called Team Leader David Ogg at 6:50 to report two whales headed north. At nearly the same time, Julie Albert from MRC phoned Jim with the same report from fisherman “Big Mike” Lussier, who was also on the Pier. Dave called Assistant Team Leader Terry Clark and she and Char Crawford quickly acquired the whales while Jim got on the road. Terry, Char, Gary Phillips, and Chris Young (the Monday Team 3) kept the whales in sight using our leapfrog method. The Air Cam arrived shortly before 11:00 and recognized Catalog #1604 and calf! The two were quite active and the Air Cam crew photographed mom on her left side, with her right eye visible above the water and the calf resting its head on her pec flipper, a rare sight.

This time, the whales cooperated by slowly swimming north, close to shore, in excellent sighting conditions. They were visible all day, including a report from the Georgia Aquarium Travelling Trevallies survey team at 4:15 pm that the pair was at Jungle Hut Road in The Hammock.

Also in the last several days, two new mother/calf pairs were added to the list, Catalog #2611, Picasso, and Catalog #1611, Clover, bringing the total to 12. We have documented both whales in our survey area, Picasso in February 2009, and Clover twice in February 2006 and several times in March 2009. With any luck, we will be seeing them off our shores again soon.

Better Weather Yields a Juvenile Right Whale

At last, Monday the 19^th dawned with blue skies, bright sun, and calm seas. Mobile Team 2 arrived at Washington Oaks State Park at 10:46 AM and were just getting their gear out when Mark Turner spotted white ruffles in the water. Day leader Donna Drevniak called Jim, who arrived quickly to confirm a single right whale. The Air Cam, with Joy and Becki, arrived just after 11:30 AM and almost passed it by since it was submerged for several minutes at a time. We forwarded photos to our colleagues at Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) for a provisional ID and learned that it was a juvenile, not readily identifiable in the Right Whale Catalog. This was the first sighting of the season by one of our teams, and the first photographs of the season from the Air Cam.

Calls came from the Marine Resources Council’s (MRC) Hotline reporting another whale just to the south of the St. Augustine Pier. Mobile Team 1 got into position and the Air Cam searched the area for over a half hour, without success. As further information came in, we believe that it may have been a humpback whale, whose movements tend to be quicker and more random than right whales, making them much harder to locate.

Tuesday arrived with some of the calmest seas we have observed in our many seasons. At 10:13 AM, Sally Thomas, who had recently attended an MRC right whale lecture, called the Hotline to report a sighting in New Smyrna Beach. Four minutes later, Mark Atkinson, on duty with Volusia County Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue, confirmed the sighting. Chad Truxall, Executive Director of the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach, located and stayed

with the whale for position updates to the Air Cam, crewed by Joy and Jim, who located a single right whale at 12:04 PM. Circling, we soon realized that this was the same juvenile right whale as yesterday. Kem McNair, a local photographer, took this photo of the whale’s head and flukes from shore.

Right Whale Sighting Update

Last Tuesday, the 13^th, proved to be a lucky day. The call to the Marine Resources Council’s Hotline alerting us to right whales in Ormond Beach came from Carlos Diaz. Although Team 5 and Becki arrived in good time, the fog rolled in too quickly to obtain many photos, leaving the mother’s identity and the documentation of the calf as inconclusive. Luckily, Carlos photographed the pair and his images both confirmed the presence of a calf and helped in making the identification.

Our colleagues at FWCC have provisionally identified the mother as Catalog #1604 with her 5^th calf. Further, this was the first report of the season for this mother and her calf, bringing the total to three mother/calf pairs. We know Catalog #1604 from sighting her with previous calves in 2005 and 2011. To learn more about this mother, follow this link, http://rwcatalog.neaq.org/, click “Agree,” then “Search for Individual Whales,” then the dropdown box for Catalog No., and scroll down until you reach 1604.

Starting tomorrow and continuing into next week, the weather and sighting conditions are forecast to improve. With the Air Cam flying and lots of team and collaborator eyeballs on the water, the luck may continue!