Right Whale #3546 & Calf on Schedule and Elusive

Once again, the Marine Resources Council’s Hotline came through as Julie called Jim just after noon with a report of whales at Hammock Dunes, about where we expected them to be based on yesterday’s position and behavior. Forty minutes later, Sharon Ralston, leader of the Hammock Dunes Survey Team, sighted them at the clubhouse and Jim brought the camera. Finding a

mother and calf right whale already well to the north, Jim barely had time to squeeze off a few photos before they moved out of range.

Jim and Sharon repositioned at Jungle Hut Road, where Joy joined them, but the whales were nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, in the space of less than an hour, the sea state had increased from a Beaufort 2 to a 5! A beach-goer passing by told us that he had seen a whale at Jungle Hut before we arrived and it was heading north. This suggested that the whales had increased their swim speed, so Joy moved to 16^th Road. She finally spotted a vigorous blow to the south and Jim repositioned here, but the whales were now moving rapidly north and east, very low in the water a mile or more from shore, out of reach of the camera. We kept track of them through their infrequent blows.

Concerned that the photos we had would not be enough to ID the whales, we called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) aerial survey ground contact to check if their survey plane was available to respond. They were and arrived at our position just before 3:00 pm, although the sea state, now bordering on a Beaufort 6, obscured the whales on their first pass and we radioed them from the ground to relay a new position. It worked and the observers confirmed our suspicion that they were likely Catalog #3546 and calf. Given their rate of travel, they could be off St. Augustine tomorrow!

Right Whale #3546 and Calf Finally Headed North?

Tuesday, 25 March, and today, 27 March, brought fresh sightings of Catalog #3546 and her calf. On both days, the initial calls came through Julie Albert and the Marine Resources Council’s Hotline. On Tuesday, the pair was in New Smyrna Beach and Julie herself drove up to take photos (she has the same 600 mm telephoto lens as we use) with Jim making the trip south to lend a hand. This morning, the initial reports around 10:00 am had the whales at the north end of

Daytona Beach, heading north at a steady pace that brought them to Ormond Beach by the time Jim could reach the area. Becki, with the help of Team 4 surveyors, Elaine and John Kelley, kept them in sight until Jim arrived.

If mother and calf continue on the same heading at a comparable swim speed, we could see them in Flagler Beach tomorrow. Of course, they gave us the slip before and reversed course, but, perhaps, the urge to head north to find the dense swarms of copepods (right whale food) is making itself felt. It’s worth keeping an eye out!

Right Whale Season Isn't Over Yet!

The hunt for Catalog #3546 and calf was on. They were last seen in Daytona Beach Shores on Monday, 17 March, slowly heading north. The weather was finally cooperating on 20 March and Jim had notified the team to be on the lookout. The Air Cam launched at 10:30 am. As it approached Matanzas Inlet to start our aerial survey, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) right whale aerial survey team radioed that they had a sighting just to the south of Washington Oaks State Park, near Sea Colony in the Hammock. Joy called Jim from the Air Cam to alert him. At the same time, the circling FWC Skymaster aircraft caught the attention of Sea Colony surveyor Sue Hecht and she called Paula Treidel, Sea Colony Team Leader, who notified Jim.

Finished with photographing, the FWC team radioed the Air Cam and relayed that the whales

were Catalog #2746 and calf, NOT #3546 as we had expected! After finishing our northern track line, the Air Cam came south and circled for photographs. The pair remained in the area, close to shore, throughout the day, affording us one of the best sightings of the season.

So, where did Catalog #3546 and her calf go? The answer became clearer yesterday as Julie with Marine Resources Council received a report of whales in Cocoa Beach. With the help of an FWC vessel, Julie was able to get photographs. They were provisionally identified as, you guessed it, Catalog #3546 and calf! We still have a chance to catch them on their way north, so keep your eyes peeled. Our response bags are ready to go!

Rainy Day Whales

Pouring rain…the perfect weather to work on data and straighten up the files. We call it an “indoor sports day.” We were well into it when, at 12:30, Julie Albert from the Marine Resources Council called with a Hotline report from Judith Terman of two whales, one small, from The Towers in Ponce Inlet. We were amazed! How could anyone see whales in this rain? Before setting out in this awful weather, Jim asked Julie to see if anyone could confirm that they were right whales. She called Michael Brothers of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet and, heading to the beach, he reported seeing a mother and calf right whale, swimming north.

Jim and Joy arrived in the area around 2:30 PM and Julie provided contact information for one of the spotters, Sheila Lipp, who called in a recent report. In a stroke of very good luck, the whales

were still visible to the north from Sheila’s 7^th floor condo, which came with a covered balcony overlooking the ocean. We were able to photograph the whales from this sheltered location. Suspecting this was Catalog #3546 and calf, we shared the photos with our Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission colleagues, who agreed.

After thanking Sheila, her husband, and friends for opening their home to us, we drove a little north to see if we could catch the whales straight out from the beach. Finding a walkover with a shelter, we searched the ocean, but mist descended quickly and within minutes it began to rain harder. With almost no visibility and no whales in sight, we secured the watch and headed home.

Since Catalog #3546’s calf was born somewhat later in the season, she may be lingering in the area to allow the calf more time to mature before beginning their migration north. Thus, if you happen to be along the coast in the next several days, take your binoculars with you and watch the ocean!

Sebastian Right Whale Adventure

The data we collect contributes to a greater understanding of trends in right whale behavior and habitat use, but we also are intensely interested in what we can learn from the “outliers,” the whales that make use of the edges of the habitat and beyond. Yesterday, 10 March, we assisted our colleague Julie Albert of Marine Resources Council (MRC) to confirm the identity of one such pair of outliers.

On Saturday, 8 March, mother and calf right whales were reported to the MRC Hotline and photographed at Jensen Beach (just north of Stuart, FL). The photos provided confirmation of the species, but not the identity. Yesterday, Julie received a Hotline call just before 9:00 AM reporting whales in Sebastian (south of Melbourne) from a surf fisherman who had kept the yellow phone card he’d received years ago. Julie contacted Jim to see if we could help and Jim called Joy to prepare for a possible flight to Sebastian.

Julie called again shortly before 11:30 AM to report that she had the whales in sight. The Air Cam was already flying south on its regular survey and we decided to continue on to Sebastian. Two hours later, Joy called Julie for the whales’ current position and within minutes, Joy and Becki were circling for photos above the beautiful turquoise water.

The pair is provisionally identified as Catalog #3546 with her first calf. They were previously photographed by the Air Cam on Sunday, 2 March in New Smyrna Beach and are likely the same whales seen in Jensen Beach on 8 March. Assisting MRC in this endeavor accomplished two objectives; we confirmed the whales’ unusual journey south of the right whale critical habitat and have a better idea of how to position the Air Cam to respond to sightings further afield if desirable.

Having flown so far from its home base in Hastings, the Air Cam landed at Sebastian Airport and took on necessary fuel for both aircraft and crew before making the two-plus hour return trip to Hastings. Based on continuing Hotline reports, the whales are headed north and could arrive in our survey area on Friday or Saturday, just in time for our last two days of dedicated survey!

Monday’s Right Whale Identified

Thanks to our Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) colleagues, we have a

provisional ID for the mother right whale sighted in Ormond Beach on Monday, 3 March. She is Catalog #2645, an 18-year-old named Insignia. We last saw her in 2005. Photo attached.


The two female whales we sighted on Sunday, 2 March, Catalog #2746 and #3546 are an interesting coincidence…they are aunt and niece. Catalog #1246 is the mother of #3546 and the grandmother of #2746. We have not seen #2746 in our study area prior to this season, but we saw #3546 as a calf in 2005, then in the company of groups of whales in 2009, 2010, and 2011. She is also the only first-time mother so far this season. To date, there are ten mother/calf right whale pairs identified.


Right Whale News

The February issue of Right Whale News has been posted at www.narwc.org. Highlights include a mid-season update from the SEUS, Ship-Strike Final Rule, Navy funded research projects, proposed seismic testing, and information on the Black Sea Bass pot/trap fishery in the southeast.

And, if you have not already done so, please add or update your entry on the subscriber list via this link: http://eepurl.com/JvmKf. Beginning with this issue, all communication regarding Right Whale News will be delivered through the new subscriber service ("Mail Chimp") and the old distribution list will be deleted. The link is also available via the Right Whale News tab on www.narwc.org.

Right Whale Bonanza!

Sunday morning, 2 March, dawned with a thick blanket of fog over most of the coastline we survey, a condition we have faced quite often this season. To the very south, though, there was a break and, just after 8:30 AM, Debbie Cook, working the Sunglow Pier Bait Shop, called Becki with a whale sighting. Minutes later, Julie Albert with the Marine Resources Council Hotline, called Jim with a report from the same area. Doris and Robert Unger, Team 5, responded and confirmed right whales at Herron St. in Wilbur by the Sea. Jim and Pat Schubert headed south and Joy and Becki headed for the airport.

Doris and Robert held on to the whales until Jim and Pat could meet them around 11:15 AM at Winter Haven Park. They worked the sighting south and confirmed two right whales, but distance and fog prevented them from knowing if they were a mother/calf pair or two individuals. We needed the Air Cam. With the fog seeming to thin, Joy and Becki made final preparations and started the engines. At 12:17 PM, just as Joy was ready to taxi to the runway, Jim called and said to shut down, the fog had moved back in. Both teams grabbed some lunch and waited for the fog to clear again.

An hour later, conditions had improved, but the ground crew could not find the whales and assumed that they had moved south of Ponce Inlet. Fog was still clinging to the coast from Daytona north, so Joy and Jim decided to launch the Air Cam and fly inland to the south end of New Smyrna Beach, then out over the water and survey north with the sun behind them. At 3:30 PM, minutes after beginning to survey in New Smyrna, Joy and Becki spotted the whales and confirmed a mother/calf pair, Catalog #3546, along with a large number of dolphins. Photo attached. This pair had been sighted two days before, in the early evening, from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) aerial observer house in S. Ponte Vedra.

Meanwhile, in St. Augustine, Penny Bellas of Team 1, frustrated at having to cancel the morning’s survey due to zero visibility, decided to conduct her own survey in mid-afternoon when the fog had finally dissipated. Arriving at Crescent Beach Park at 3:45 PM, she picked up her binoculars for a closer look at a slick area in the water and spotted a very tall V-blow followed by a black head. With a longer look, Penny realized she

likely had a mother/calf pair and called Jim. As soon as Joy and Becki had finished photographing the New Smyrna pair, Pat Schubert radioed the location of this new sighting and the Air Cam headed north. At 4:45 PM, Joy and Becki spotted this second pair, Catalog #2746, who we last saw on Valentine’s Day.

But wait, there’s more! The FWC aerial survey team sighted a third mother/calf pair, Catalog #3157, about 5 miles east of Flagler Pier, bringing the day’s count to three mother/calf pairs, all of whom came south in the last week. Thus, it wasn’t a surprise when Monday, 3 March, brought news of another sighting.

Team 5 was at Al Weeks Park, Ormond Beach, just getting their survey sheet ready when, at 8:02, Pat Lamee spotted a mother/calf pair. They moved slowly south and east. At mid-day, the calf became quite active and breached several times along with some tail-slapping, much to the delight of those watching. Conferring with our FWC colleagues, our photos do not appear to match any of the three mothers from Sunday! Stay tuned for an update!

What About All These Humpbacks?!

Tuesday morning (25 February) brought another humpback whale sighting, this time in Beverly Beach, near the two campgrounds and City Hall. Martha Demers of Team 3 was the first to spot the large black shape around 10:30 am. An alert observer at the Flagler-by-the-Sea campground also called Julie at the Marine Resources Council hotline. In previous seasons, humpback sightings seemed more common early in the season (November, December) and late in the season (March,April). To date, we have had several humpback sightings throughout this season. Who are these humpbacks and what are they doing here?

On the 25^th Becki Smith took photos (image below) and we shared them with our colleagues at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), who have collected humpback whale photos for a number of years and have assembled an informal catalog

of the whales seen by the SE US survey teams. Humpbacks are usually photographically identified by the pattern of white splotches on the underside of their tail and the formal catalog is curated by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) on Cape Cod. But, unlike the situation in New England, the humpbacks here rarely raise their flukes. So we (collectively) have focused on dorsal fins and any body scars. Happily, these photos have been sufficient to distinguish between most individuals and indicate that some humpbacks are making repeat appearances. For example, yesterday’s humpback has a distinctive dorsal fin, and has been sighted twice before, on 30 December off Georgia and 9 February off Jacksonville Beach. Humpbacks, like right whales, appear to move around throughout the habitat.

Humpbacks are generally the same length as right whales, but are more slender and weigh less. Their more stream-lined shape allows them to swim faster and, thus, chase faster prey, such as the small bait fish that school in our coastal waters. Most of the SE US humpbacks appear to be juveniles. The PCCS has a dorsal fin catalog for humpbacks in the Gulf of Maine and has matched one humpback from the FWC catalog to a Gulf of Maine humpback. Hopefully, there will be more matches in the future and we will begin to have a better understanding of the humpbacks visiting our coastline.

Note: For a more complete description of humpback distinguishing characteristics with photos, see the “Right Whale Team Handbook” available as a PDF on www.aswh.org.

Humpback Whales Show Off in Flagler Beach

Judy Bowman of Team 3 spotted blows, breaches and dorsal fins in south Beverly Beach around 9:30 this morning and reported multiple humpback whales. At the same time, Julie with the Marine Resources Council’s Right Whale Hotline relayed calls from other spotters at Flagler Beach. The Sighting Network at its best!

On this truly glorious day, a pair of humpbacks stayed relatively close to shore and quite active as they moved south, putting on a good show for everyone who came out to have a look. Dave and Maryanne Gustafson enabled Jim to locate our camera

on the roof of the Aliki, 15 stories tall, and photograph the whales from that excellent vantage point. In the image to the right, note the characteristic dorsal fin that readily identifies it as a humpback.

Whales Keep Us on Our Toes

Two sightings of whales yesterday, within six miles of each other and rather far out to sea, had us working hard to figure out exactly what we were observing and underlined the importance of good coordination and data collection.

Team 3 started with a sighting that appeared to be a right whale just after 9:30 AM to the northeast of Beverly Beach Town Hall. About an hour later, Becki was able to confirm it was a right whale from Flagler-By-The-Sea Campground. As Jim headed south with the camera, Team 2 called that they had whales at Malacompra Avenue in the Hammock. Jim detoured there and eventually saw the backs and blows of what he thought at the time were two whales, but they were too far out for photos.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) aerial survey plane was reasonably close, and Jim contacted them about our sightings. About an hour later, they confirmed a humpback whale east of Malacompra. Considering how far from shore the whales were in both sightings, we began to wonder if we really had seen right whales. The FWC team checked further south where Team 3 had reported their sighting and located a single right whale, heading steadily south. Yes, Team 3 had seen a right whale!

The single continued south, videotaped by Dale Hench at the Nautilus Condo in S. Flagler Beach around 4:00 PM. We thought it might be an adult male,

Catalog #2510, that the Air Cam had photographed on Monday, one-and-a half-miles offshore from Crescent Beach, heading steadily south, surfacing only briefly to breathe. Our colleagues at FWC told us that yesterday’s single was a different whale, young, perhaps a yearling or two-year-old, who will be harder to identify.

New Right Whale Arrivals

AIR CAM SIGHTING

Braving the chill of Valentine’s Day in the open cockpit of the Air Cam, Joy and Becki were rewarded with sighting Catalog #2746 and her third calf 1.5 nm east of Marineland. This is the first time we have documented this whale in our area. Jim, observing from the Marineland Boardwalk, could barely make them out and they disappeared quickly.

CALF COUNT INCREASES

The number of calves documented in the SE US grew by two in the last few days and now totals eight. Both new additions are familiar to us. Catalog #3157 was sighted off Ponte Vedra on 10 February. In 2010, the Air Cam team was the first to sight her with her first calf and we saw her another four times. Catalog #3546 was seen yesterday off Georgia. We first made her acquaintance in 2005 when she was a calf with her mother, Catalog #1246. We also documented her in 2009, 2010, and 2011 in the company of other whales. Perhaps, both of these mothers will come our way this season!

HUMPBACKS AROUND

Team 3 was barely on watch yesterday when Julie (Marine Resources Council Right Whale Hotline) called with a sighting report of three to four whales at the south end of Beverly Beach. Although the team and Becki did not sight the whales, they met a couple from the nearby campground who had seen them earlier and had a photo that clearly showed a dorsal fin, confirming humpbacks.

Boomerang Makes It Four

The call came early. At 07:39, Julie at the Marine Resources Council Right Whale Hotline called. Someone (didn't leave name or call back number) called the Volusia County Beach Patrol ... whales at around 1900 A1A in Daytona. Becki subsequently relayed the info to Team 5 who verified the sighting from Andy Romano Park. Jim got on the road with Pat Schubert as the response team... and they joined the Team in Ormond Beach.

On a clear calm day, the mother (quickly identified as Catalog #2503, Boomerang) and calf moved slowly north. The survey team jumped north to the Cardinal Street Beach Patrol station and then to the Grenada Waterfront Park. Joy and Becki arrived in the AirCam around 11:15. 

Then ... we got another call from John and Elaine Kelley. More whales to the south. This one turned out to be a robust, healthy looking, humpback who came north to Grenada and then doubled back south. We returned our attention to Boomerang and calf, and the last sighting was from the North County Beach Patrol tower at 13:33. The whales were still coming north, but had moved east a bit. The Traveling Trevallies joined us at several stops. They picked a good week to help out!

Boomerang Circles Back South

The weather has been quite trying this season. Fog, wind, and rain have together and separately, made surveys miserable and impossible. Yet, those who have persisted have been rewarded. Today was one of those days when the odds of finding a whale seemed like a shot in the dark. This time it was higher than forecast winds whipping up white caps to fool the eye. Julie Ogg Zitka, with Team 3 at their next-to-last survey point at the Golden Lion Restaurant around 11:30 AM, beat the odds and caught Catalog #2503, Boomerang, and her calf on their way south again.

The timing couldn’t be better. It’s the perfect way to begin the second half of our season and to welcome back the Traveling Trevallies, volunteers with the Georgia Aquarium, for their fifth season of helping us for a week with surveys.

From the Golden Lion, the action, and many of our volunteers, moved out to the end of Flagler Pier as the pair lingered there, changing direction several times, before swimming steadily south. The wind and sea state abated as the afternoon wore on, improving conditions for everyone who stopped by to take a look. By 3:30 PM, mother and calf were passing Gamble Rogers State Park and we lost them shortly thereafter. Tomorrow’s weather looks to be near perfect. Let’s see if we can spot these whales again!

Boomerang Returns

The fog smothering our coastline for the last few days finally lifted yesterday morning to reveal Whale #2503, Boomerang, and her calf just off the shoreline of Crescent Beach. Diane Lane spotted them from her condo balcony around 10:00 AM and called her husband, David, who was surveying with Team 1. Confirming the sighting from the Lane’s balcony, the team called it in around 10:30 AM. Joy and Becki were making final preparations for an Air Cam survey and arrived to photograph the pair an hour later.

In the photo to the right, there is almost a body length separating the two and we saw this behavior several times while circling overhead. In past seasons, this separation has been observed with older calves, more toward the end of the season, as they begin to gain a bit of independence from the mother. The first sighing of Boomerang was on 20 January with the calf, so the calf’s age cannot be pinpointed, yet it appears to be fairly young and would be expected to remain closer to its mother. Did the close proximity to shore provide a safer environment for greater separation? Do right whales have different mothering styles? Ah, the questions…they never end!

Right Whales Fill the Void

Our long dry spell of no whale sightings broke this morning with a call from Julie Albert of the Marine Resources Council’s Right Whale Hotline around 8:15 AM with a report of whales in Ormond Beach. It was quite a catch, considering the fog blanketing the coast! Team 4 deployed in several locations. It was an exercise in patience and persistence…the visibility was often less than ¼ mile, but it paid off. First, Elaine and John Kelley spotted what proved to be mother and calf right whales at SR 44, Grenada Blvd., Ormond Beach, and then Larry Bell spotted them from Amsden Road, where the response team of Jim and Joy joined them to take photos.

The pair is provisionally identified as Whale #2503, Boomerang, with her 3^rd calf.On 4 December 2005, we photographed Boomerang with her first calf as they swam past Marineland and into history; this is the whale that took her calf all the way to Corpus Christi, Texas in January. Boomerang returned to the SE US in 2009 with calf #2, but we did not see her south of St. Augustine Inlet.

 

The two swam north a short way, then turned south, changing directions several times, before swimming slowly south past Grenada Blvd, close in, for good photos in the best visibility of the day. We left them shortly after 3 PM, about 2 miles south of Grenada Blvd.

But wait, the day got better! Julie from MRC called again, at 1:15 PM, with another reported sighting, this time from Ocean Trace in St. Augustine. We were too far away to respond, so she notified our colleagues with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and they responded by land and sea. This, too, was a mother and calf pair, Whale #2040, Naevus, whom we had not seen south of the St. Augustine Inlet prior to this sighting. Now, this is the way to end a dry spell!