Things change. We can’t predict. We last saw Catalog #2360, Derecha, right off the boardwalk here at Marineland, on 10 January. Bill Gough photographed her breaching (image below). The pair swam north.
Then it got quiet. On 15 January they were seen off Talbot Island, north of Jacksonville. Were they heading north? Well, no. On Sunday the 23rd, the phone rang. Julie Albert with the Marine Resources Council's Right Whale Hotline called with a sighting reported on FaceBook. At about the same time, team member Jim Sullivan reported a sighting from just N of the Flagler Pier. Jim wasn’t on duty. He and his wife were on the way to an anniversary lunch. They kept them in sight until further responders arrived. The FWC aerial team identified the mother as Derecha. and calf. On a drone flight, Sara got images of the belly-up calf, showing a spectacular white belly, and identified the gender as female (image below).
The 2022 female calf of Derecha. (Photo: S. Ellis)
Shortly thereafter, they were sighted from Gamble Rogers State Park. Martha Garito got photos from Highbridge (image below).
Derecha and calf off Highbridge, 23 January 2022. (Photo: M. Garito)
The next day, Monday the 24th, the phone rang at 07:38. Lou Reinwasser, Team 5 N, called in a sighting from Grenada Park in Ormond. Sara got drone images. Derecha and calf, heading S.
Late in the day, the FWC plane reported Snow Cone and calf from Washington Oaks. Shortly thereafter, Donna McCutchan reported them from off Sea Colony. This was another surprise, as they had been last seen up by Amelia Island on Wednesday the 19th.
So, as of yesterday, we have had two mother-calf pairs in our area > > > the two “remarkable females” described in our previous post.
We have seen repeated down-and-up/south-and-north movements from both of these pairs. Both were last seen heading south. What does the future hold?
