This Week's Update Includes:

• News: Cows and Calves are Coming!
• Slideshow: Gray Whales on the Move: Can You Spot the Babies?
• Reminder: Send Your Questions to the Expert
• Tracking the Migration: Using Daily Data
  
  

Last time Kati from Post #15 in Vancouver, Canada, predicted moms and babies off Tofino about three weeks after the first sighting (March 20/21) at Post #6 (ACS/LA). "And sure enough," reports Kati, "on Saturday of the Easter Holiday weekend we encountered our first Gray Whale mother & calf pair off Tofino!"

Counting the Whales Passing California
At Post #7 Gray Whales Count celebrated their first calf sighting on April 3. On April 9 Director Michael Smith reported: "We were excited to count our seventh calf, but concerned that as the pair arrived a quarter mile off the Isla Vista kelp, the whales were confronted with a commercial fishing boat heading right at them and then traveling over the submerged whales. The calf surfaced a minute later, seeming to be just fine. But mom seemed to want to get along, with no lingering. We saw them through a few more surfacings as they headed west outside the mooring buoys." We wish them safe travel.

What's the news at Post #6 on the migration route? ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project Director Alisa Schulman-Janiger reports: "Our cow/calf migration phase has begun. We have spotted 8 of our 11 northbound calves since March 26." They saw a gray whale breach seven time in a row! But boat traffic mixed with whale traffic here, too: A calf on April 9 was traveling a distance from the mom, even swimming in front of her. "Then a small motor boat came fairly close to them; the next time they surfaced, the calf was right next to the mom, riding back toward her dorsal ridge in classic cow/calf formation." They saw zero grays but lots of orcas on April 7; do you think there's a connection? Read the field notes to see why March 29 was so exciting at Post #6!

Official Calf Count: Scientific Research Site
The 19th season at Pt. Piedras Blancas, CA (#8) was quiet for the first week. Then, on April 9, the first cow/calf pair appeared. Here we go! Will the numbers measure up to expectations? Stay tuned.

Read Field Notes
Click on the route map to see the migration route and Observation Posts. Click on each red dot to read about the location. Click on the 2012 Field Notes link to read the latest news. The comments of the observers make you feel like you are there!

• Gray Whales on the Move: Can You Spot the Babies?
  

• Instructions: Tracking the Migration Using Daily Data

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