Offspring of Halo returns
Right Whale Catalog #3546, Halo, is near the heart of our program. We saw her as a calf, with her mother, in the 2005 season. Subsequently, we have seen her, and her calves, in several years since. And, in fact, we (volunteer Becki Smith) contributed to her naming. Last year, in the 2020 season she was seen in the Marineland area, with her 2nd calf, on five occasions (see the YouTube video posted on the Marineland Right Whale Project channel). Then, this year, on Wednesday, 10 March 2021, this 2020 calf, now a yearling, was sighted alone just south of the St. Augustine Inlet. In the two following days, the 11th and 12th, it was seen around Ponce Inlet and then the Port Canaveral area. Halo and offspring are with us.
Right Whale Catalog #3546, Halo, is near the heart of our program. We saw her as a calf, with her mother, in the 2005 season. Subsequently, we have seen her, and her calves, in several years since. And, in fact, we (volunteer Becki Smith) contributed to her naming. Last year, in the 2020 season she was seen in the Marineland area, with her 2nd calf, on five occasions (see the YouTube video posted on the Marineland Right Whale Project channel). Then, this year, on Wednesday, 10 March 2021, this 2020 calf, now a yearling, was sighted alone just south of the St. Augustine Inlet. In the two following days, the 11th and 12th, it was seen around Ponce Inlet and then the Port Canaveral area. Halo and offspring are with us.
The 2020 calf of Halo, now a yearling, has returned to our area. What is the value of this excursion? Unknown.
(Photo: 11 March 2021 by the FWC aerial team.)
Right Whale Calf #17
Right whale Catalog #3593 was spotted with her first calf off Topsail Beach, North Carolina, on 11 March 2021.The sighting was by the North Carolina aerial survey team (see Right Whale News, January 2021) 31 nautical miles off the beach. She has a sparse sighting history in the photo-identification catalog and her sex was unknown until this sighting of her with a calf showed that she is female.
Early in the season, we wished and hoped for 20 calves this season. We, collectively, are inching forward. Will this goal be attained?
Bad news for Snow Cone
Right Whale Catalog #3560, Snow Cone, was popular with our group in the 2020 season, when she and her first calf were sighted on nine occasions. She appeared to have a nearshore habitat preference―as does her half-sister, Chiminea―which brought her and calf into view of many researchers, volunteers, and citizens. This pair gained some notoriety, when, in mid-March, they swam past Miami and into the Gulf of Mexico. They subsequently returned north. The mother-calf pair is planned to be central to a right whale documentary being prepared by a Canadian film company. But, their story has changed dramatically since last season as Snow Cone appears to be snake bit.
In the morning of 25 June 2020, a boater reported a floating whale carcass 4 miles off Elberon, New Jersey. The dead whale was identified as her male calf. The wounds along his head and body were consistent with two different vessel collisions.
In the morning of 25 June 2020, a boater reported a floating whale carcass 4 miles off Elberon, New Jersey. The dead whale was identified as her male calf. The wounds along his head and body were consistent with two different vessel collisions.
But wait, there’s more. Just this week, on 10 March 2021 the Center for Coastal Studies aerial survey team came across an entangled whale in Cape Cod Bay. It turned out to be Snow Cone. Disentangling efforts are underway. The outlook is uncertain at this time.
