Gray Whale Migration Route: News From This Observation Post

Reports from Observation Post #7
Coal Oil Point, Channel Islands, California, USA
("Counter Point")
News from the 2010 Season

Meet Michael H. Smith of Gray Whales Count! See the view and join the whale watchers at this California counting point with the feature video clip "Waiting for Whales" from the Ventura County Star newspaper. It's almost as good as being there!

Thanks to Michael H. Smith, we share selected highlights from the site of Gray Whales Count (click link for searchable blog of daily reports to see them all!). The 2010 counting season runs daily Feb. 8 to May 23 from 9 to 5, weather permitting.

May 2010

2010 SEASON SUMMARY: On May 23, day 105 and their final day this spring, Gray Whales Count had tallied a total of 544 northbound gray whales through the Santa Barbara Channel. The total included 33 calves. Volunteers worked 2,348 hours and 15 minutes between February and May 12. As Director Michael H. Smith said, "Well done." Thanks to every one of them for their dedication and sharing!

May 11: The wind, yet again, got the best of us. Though we put up a fight, we saw no marine mammals on our short 3-hour day except for a few sea lions. Our totals for 2010 are now 541 (33 were calves).

May 10: The wind — very strong wind — continues. We were forced to close up before 1:00 with no animal sightings for the day.

May 9: Occasionally we see late, southbound whales and we wonder what that whale is thinking. It is likely a juvenile that does not know what to think and is just trying to find more whales to point out the correct path. Today, we found out about a southbound, gray whale. This whale was not in the Santa Barbara Channel, though. This particular whale was just off Herzliya Marina and heading south, in the direction of Tel-Aviv ... Israel, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Talk about a lost whale! And, this whale will be talked about for quite a while. MORE. Meanwhile back on Counter Point, the wind howled and made surveying difficult to impossible. We had to pack up before two without seeing a gray whale. We did see some distant humpback whales, the same pair we have sen many times over the last two weeks. We also saw some bottlenose dolphins and many, many whitecaps. It is truly crazy out there. Season total: 541 ( 33 calves).

May 8:The Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center arrived with a net and the sea-lion pup was rescued in a flash (see photo at right). It will be well-cared for before being released. That was the big event of our day. No whales!

May 7: We saw 4 gray whales, including 2 calves. (All four animals are in the image at the right. See labels.) They meandered a bit, moved around in the kelp, and push on through the oil barge buoys that were occupied by two boats making preparations for the new barge. Total now: 541 whales including 33 calves.

May 6: May weather can be strange, including fog, heat waves, haze, rain, glorious sunshine, and wind. Some of the previous are trouble for us, and so we are very glad to get another eight hours of surveying in. Today we saw another gray whale cow/calf pair. We also saw our harbor seal in the surf in front of Counter Point, and many sea lions patrolling the water around the Point.

May 5: No whales. Counters stood next to the ocean in no wind. Weird: a rare experience for us. We were surprised, too, that we could see well enough in the choppy sea with spray trailing off the waves.
In the morning we had trouble seeing as the fog spread over our ocean. During the time out for fog, we discussed what is and is not going on this year. We have had whales. Our number of northbound gray whales will likely exceed last year's, but we are very low on calves. The last three years have not been good years, last year being the worst. This year we will struggle to match that 2009 calf count. But ... we are not finished, and our count is raw. The data will need to be analyzed to make any meaningful assessment, which we are looking forward to.
We are also eager to get at the acoustic data (see March 1, below) and correlate it with our visual observations. This promises to be very interesting, and it will likely lead to a range of questions. Stay tuned.

May 4: A huge difference for this survey-year became even more different today. We have been amazed that almost every day we have seen common dolphins. In past years, we have been lucky to see the splash machines seven times in one-hundred-five days of surveying. In training, we say the dolphin we see most commonly is a bottlenose dolphin. We see common dolphins rarely. We make the point by saying that 99.9999% of the dolphins we see in the kelp, just outside the kelp, or in the surf-zone are bottlenose dolphins. Today, we had the exception — .0001% — that proved our rule: about 200 common dolphins foraging in the kelp and just outside the waves. They were so close, we could see the little fish jumping in front of the surging dolphins. Maybe that is why we didn't see bottlenose dolphins today ...
Maybe, also, that is why the gray whale cow/calf pair was so timid. We saw the pair about fifteen minutes after the dolphins had moved east (towards the westward whales). We got only two looks at the calf, but very glad to count it and cheer them on their way.

May 3: Another beautiful, fun day with no wind and eight hours of counting. Our cow/calf pair of gray whales arrived at high noon and seemed intimidated (like the surfer) of all the activity in the water. It did not help that an urchin-diver vessel came up from behind and almost ran over them. (We doubt the boat captain even saw the huge animals.) The capper was likely the seeps, which also seemed very active bubbling and seeping oil, which was very evident in the water.
The whales moved on through without apparent incident, but they did not linger either, as many cow/calf pairs do. The calf was shy, or perhaps, momma wanted the little one to keep a low profile. We got a number of good looks, so we were happy to add them to the count.
The afternoon was very much the same as the morning but without whales.

May 2: We arrived and there was no wind. Hooray! We got all eight hours in with not a single whitecap all day. The haze cut down on visibility, but we could certainly see well enough. Right away, a gray whale cow/calf pair arrived heading ever-so-slowly west. Huge cheers!

May 1: Zero again! The wind made a very confused and messy sea. We held our ground until almost 2:00, when we had to shut down without seeing a gray whale.

April 2010

April 30: We could see once again, and we saw blows and more blows. They all belonged to humpback whales, but it was fun to be tracking whales.

April 29: Zero! The wind eviscerated all descriptions of our 3-hour day, in which their were no sightings of marine mammals.

April 28: One cow/calf pair for a season total of 529 whales/27 calves.
The big leaf blower in the sky aimed at the Santa Barbara Channel today. That took care of the fog, but the continuous super-blast made it impossible to see anything. During the cow/calf phase we do not need to be able to see as far out in the Channel, so we alter our protocols for surveying a bit. We do not expect to see cow/calf pairs further offshore. Yes, we do know there are exceptions, but very few. So, if we can see right along the kelp, we count. We did find a cow/calf pair this morning. The wind kept building. We stopped the Count with less than three hours done. No other marine mammals were sighted in the water. There was a sea lion on the sand at Counter Point, and we helped Peter Howorth of the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center rescue the little guy. We hope it was just tired and hungry and that with some rest and nourishment (and a break from the gale), it will be ready to get back out there.

April 27: Again, we were shut out of gray whales. It appears there are few whales traveling through the nearshore right now. There are some, though, because we do get reports. Some are described as cow/calf pairs. We cannot count them because the whales need travel past Counter Point and be identified to be entered. Even so, it is nice to hear. Season northbound total Count: 527 (26 calves).
The Zalophus Gang was out in force. Some groups included about fifty sea lions porpoising and tumbling and rolling back and forth across our vantage.

April 26: As we arrived, Venoco's oil barge, Jovalan, also arrived for its third, "final" voyage, filling up at the Ellwood Marine Terminal at our doorstep. The barge is a single-hull that has been in need of replacement for a long time. They say (as they have been saying) that this is the last trip and the new, double-hull, bigger barge will be in service in May. We'll see.As you might be able to tell from the image, seeing was a problem today. The blurry blotch between the barge and boat is Platform Holly, which usually dominates our visual seascape. Adieu, Jovalan. We can't say that we will miss you. But then, we’ll always have Holly. There were no gray whales at any time.

April 25: No two days are exactly alike; however, today was pretty similar to yesterday, but not as pretty. We had a virtual zero Beaufort all day; and once again, sea lions were everywhere. We waited and waited for a gray whale; and, like yesterday, after 4:00, a cow/calf pair rounded Campus Point and headed west towards usAt first, it seemed like they were going to just cruise on by, but just like the pair yesterday afternoon, they stopped just past Counter Point, rolled around a bit, headed east, then west, then east, then west, inside the oil-barge buoys on their way towards Point Conception.

April 24: We broke the spell (dry spell) at 4:06 and enjoyed the gray-whale cow/calf pair for the rest of the hour. When we first saw them, they were moving steadily towards us. Just past Counter Point, they put on the brakes and moved back and forth, making very close contact, perhaps nursing. It was awesome! What a treat. (photo, right)

April 23: No whales of any color or hump on this day.

April 22: Happy Earth Day! (photo, right) Today was the third day of this storm in the Santa Barbara Channel. Things were actually calmer (at times), and we got most of the day in with only two time outs for rain. Our only whales were sighted just before the first time out and we could not identify them. We told the captains of the Condor Express the location and they identified them as humpbacks. That was our guess. We entered the group on our datasheet as unidentified large whales. Nice to know, though, that they were humpbacks.

April 21: In our brief survey today we sighted a harbor seal heading out beyond the surf into the very choppy sea. (Think: frying pan and fire.) It began raining just after ten and we headed inside. (Think: run for cover.) We stayed around and kept trying. The gale, however, was constant and the rain intermittent. Not much of a survey today.

April 20: We were told there was a pretty good chance of sprinkles, and we got some surprisingly heavy rain. We couldn't count until almost two-thirty. There was some wind, but it was beautiful and clear and the gray whale cow/calf was also a beautiful sight. (photo, right)

April 19: Just the right touch of sunlight, kelp, breeze, and ocean created a water color that had us entranced most of the day. The bonus was blows. At 10:00, everything happened at once. Common dolphins were all over the place, a vessel cruised close to Counter Point, a whale surfaced close to Counter Point, and a humpback breached about a mile off the Point. Zowie! The whale close to Counter Point was a gray whale; make that three gray whales. We, at first, thought it might be a cow/calf pair, but the pair of large whales were much more interested in each other than the little one following along. We figure it was a yearling and the two big whales were OK to show the way north. Later came a pair of gray whales that we did not see much of, then a single that we did not see much of, then a single that we did not see. It blew just past us, then dove immediately without showing any body. It moved into the afternoon glare, blew, and went down. That was the last we saw of the unidentified large whale that was surely a gray whale. Perhaps we'll get it next year.

April 18: Saturday was beautiful in the Santa Barbara Channel with good observation quality most of the day except for a fifty-one-minute time out for fog. It was nice it was short because our second cow/calf pair arrived not long after the clearing. Dolphins were around much of the day with sightings in the morning and afternoon of bottlenose dolphins and an afternoon group of common dolphins that approached inside of one mile. We saw our harbor seal and did not see a sea otter.
The Condor Express told us about four gray whales, including a probable calf, but they did not make it to Counter Point before we closed.

April 17: There was haze all day, but we could see well enough. There just were no gray whales.

April 16: Gray whales very young and old enough had a day in the Santa Barbara Channel. Our datasheet was pretty-well taken up with gray whales. They arrived early and late and through much of the day. There was a bit of a lull between 1:00 and 4:30, but we did see what may have been a yearling making its way solo. At 4:30 we saw the blows of a gray-whale cow/calf pair at Campus Point. Not far behind, the Condor Express appeared from the other side of Campus Point with another cow/calf pair behind. It was great to spend some extra time watching the two pairs head into the late-afternoon sun.

April 15: Good things come to those who wait, and we think two cow/calf pairs plus a bonus single are pretty good things. We did wait for these guys. We were told about them just after noon by the captain of the Condor Express, when they were seven miles from Campus Point, two miles east of Counter Point. We saw the first blows of the five at 4:45. They were taking their own sweet time. Prior to the late five, we had an interesting pair of gray whales that started together. Then the smaller, perhaps juvenile, started to roam in a circular manner, then preforming a perfect spyhop.
April 14: Humpbacks all day ... all day, and the last half hour we tried not to watch as one threw its tail around the nearshore with lavish splashing. It may have been the exclamation point; the exclamation was gray-whale cow/calf pairs maneuvering through some difficult situations.

Our first pair encountered a trio of unaware guys fishing The boat was traveling west to east. The whales were slowly traveling east to west. They almost met right in front of us, much to the great surprise of the guys in the boat, who did move in for an even closer look. Mom whale reacted by turning completely around and putting her body (heading east) between the boat and her calf (heading west).The guys must have felt a bit uncomfortable, and moved on.

The oil barge Jovalan was moored between the buoys in the process of being filled with 55,000 barrels of oil from Platform Holly. One of our last data-entries when tracking northbound, gray whales is to indicated if the whales passed inside or outside of the oil platform two miles offshore; and did the whales travel outside the oil-barge, mooring buoys or inside the the buoys (between the buoys and shore) or through the buoys about 200 meters offshore. Surprising as it may be, some whales do travel through the buoys when the barge is refilling; not many, though.The usual route for cow/calf pairs is inside the buoys, then along the waves at Sands. We were relieved to see the mother and calf being playful in the waves at Sands Beach. They passed inside the buoys without surfacing, perhaps being cautious.
The later cow/calf pair had no incidents moving by Counter Point, but became very hesitant approaching the buoys before sliding by between the barge and the shore.

April 13: On a mostly warm and mostly little-wind day we sighted four pairs of whales: two were northbound, gray whales, and two were humpback whales. Neither of the gray-whale pairs included a calf. Nonetheless, we had a plethora of young ones who lined up the size of a mature, gray whale: about 46 feet:

April 12: We began the day (almost) with a gray whale cow/calf pair, and we ended the day with a gray whale cow/calf pair. In between we sighted a pair of gray whales that were not a cow/calf pair and a pair of humpback whales that traveled back and forth, east and west and east and west and east, about a mile and a half out all afternoon. Each time they changed direction, the wind kicked up a notch until we were holding on at the end. Good thing we did. The morning c/c pair glided through the calm surface while the late pair smashed its way through a big swell and billowy whitecaps, making its way west. Spectators watched as the calf breached off Sands Beach.

April 11: How many whales did the Counters see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. We spent a lot of time trying find a way through the chop and slop. Maybe some gray whales managed. We didn't.
April 10: Four whales were in a line, traveling the same path, the same distance from shore, and even behaving, for the most part, in similar fashion. The were separated by about one mile, and so we sighted each and recorded each as a single whale. Yes, there were four whales, and we added only three to our Count because we never actually saw the body of the trail whale. The conditions were not great, but we could have seen the whale in front of us. It did not surface until well past, and very briefly. So, it was an unidentified large whale as the caboose in the parade.
April 9: Platform Holly, the oil platform that is two miles offshore, was disappearing, and the prospect of a full day was quickly fading into the fog. But things change ...The skies opened a little, which made it possible for us to see the blows almost on top of Counter Point. We never enjoyed good observation quality, but we enjoyed what we could see, and we saw gray whales for the first time in three days: Nine of them!
April 8: Again, we put in a full day and we, again, saw no gray whales, with good to fair observation quality. We saw lots, just no gray whales.
April 7: The good news is that we got eight hours in, and it was warm and beautiful; but we did have to contend with those bizarre mirages caused by offshore winds and heat waves. We don't think they were a factor in being shut out of gray whales. We saw humpbacks in the morning and afternoon and we were able to track them easily. There just were not any gray whales coming by Counter Point between nine and five.
April 6: There was no wind, and it was gorgeous. More important we got a full eight hours in and added three cow/calf pairs of gray whales. And, we heard about another. The Condor Express saw a cow/calf pair by the harbor on their late trip, but those whales would not make Counter Point before dark. Nice to know they are making their way. Each cow/calf pair is a unique experience. A constant is the bond between mother and calf, and our second pair was a powerful embodiment for all of us on Counter Point. There were no playful, goofy moments, no photo opps, just the connection.
April 5: Rain, wind too blowy to count.
April 4: It was quite a day, all day. We saw humpbacks throughout, some breaching, some slapping their pectoral fins, and lots of blowing. We were forced to pay attention, to check to be sure they weren't gray whales. Sure enough, that is where we found our first pair of northbound gray whales, among the humpbacks. Actually, the grays were going by; but, at first, they appeared to be in the company of the humpbacks. While the humpbacks traveled west and then back east, sometimes with a band of common dolphins splashing nearby, we spied Welcome-Back otter on his back, dining in the original Otterville. Our second gray-whale cow/calf pair arrived too. This exceptional day included a total of 8 gray whales (2 calves), the rare sighting of a huge fin whale and our first blue whale from Counter Point!
April 3: We were able to add a gray-whale calf to this year's total (now 4), before the wind pushed us off the Point. Our gray whales were accompanied by sea lions and bottlenose dolphins, that made for a merry, if slightly confusing grouping of mammals. The calf, however, stood out with a series of mini-breaches and a finishing smile. Impressive, indeed. PHOTO!

April 2: About a quarter to three, a pair of gray whales cruised right past the blowing machine of humpbacks. Neither seemed to acknowledge the other, at least from our vantage. Perhaps they did have something to say to each other; and if they did, they were right over the HARP, which recorded every audible detail. We are looking forward to listening in. Just before that pair of gray whales, another pair of gray whales swam closer to Counter Point. We got just enough good looks to confirm our third, cow-calf pair of the year! In our full day without significant wind, we also sighted two, large groups of common dolphins and two small groups of bottlenose dolphins. Counters recorded a harbor seal. No otters.

April 1: Today is the halfway point of our Count: 7 whales, 0 calves, and 434/2 for the season. It felt like we were shot into hyperspace. We went from a gentle, 3-knot breeze to a howling 30-knot gale. It happened as we were trying to figure out a whale that lingered around Campus Point to the east of us. It was taking forever, meandering and not moving towards us. Was it feeding? A humpback? A gray whale cow/calf pair? Holding on to our hats, goggles, and sandwich wrappers, we decided that it was a single, northbound, gray whale that may have been snacking or may have been cautious, heading into the sudden wind. Yes, there is a chance it could have been a cow/calf pair, but we never saw a whole lot of the whale and did not see any evidence of a companion, let alone a calf. We noted the question and entered the lone whale just before we shut down for the day, again early.March 31: Not a full day, but more time than we expected. The wind kept building and we saw four northbound gray whales before calling it quits after six hours, 18 minutes. Of course, the kiteboarders were happy. The wind and choppy seas are actually not too hard on the whales. All they have to do is dive fifteen to twenty feet and the water is calm.

March 2010

March 25: Numero uno — Our first calf of 2010! Very exciting. The little one bobbed along the kelp to the east as we were trying to track a large group of mature whales to the west of us. We already had the necessary data on those whales, and so we quickly turned our attention east. They took a long time to pass, us and we got some wonderful looks. Mother was very attentive and junior kept close, mostly on the flank, but sometimes head and head, which seemed pretty cute. We noted that mom has a nasty scar on her back, neat the dorsal ridge. Apparently she is managing nicely.

March 16: Twenty whales! It was a beautiful day to see gray whales, common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, sea lions, and harbor seals. And, if one is into big ugly things, the oil barge arrived between the buoys to fill up with oil from Platform Holly by way of onshore storage tanks. Immediately, common dolphins grabbed our attention away from the barge as they again charged across the Point, very close and headed to Campus Point east of us. Gray whales tried the thread their way through and under the long line of splashing, clicking, and whistling dolphins. The whales appeared to slow down and take some long downtimes between blows. After the dolphins left, the high-pitched noise continued as a research boat was mapping with side-scan sonar. This, too, seemed to affect the whales with more long downtimes, and some erratic progress. In the afternoon, though, we were treated to some more regular progress and even breaching, a spyhop, rolling, and sharking. (We became aware of the term "sharking" from the National Geographic Special about blue whales breeding and mating at the Costa Rican Dome. It is a mating behavior in which a whale turns on its side so that a pectoral fin and fluke extend out of the water and appear like a shark [big shark] swimming.)

March 15: It was a nice, weird day on Counter Point because the heat waves make observation of things in the distance difficult. It is like looking through a shower door. But, we also notice that we can see things beyond the horizon that we cannot normally see, like oil platforms. Yes, they are distorted, but we can see them. We wondered about our sightings. Yes, the whales were definitely difficult to sort out and identify. Perhaps, though, we were seeing animals that we could not see under normal conditions. the parade progressed, some things became clear. A small breeze helped tone down the mirages in the afternoon and we counted 20 gray whales today!

March 14: In the afternoon at 12:45 we saw our first gray whales, a trio, not far offshore, moving smoothly west. Many gray whales followed, along with the same humpback pair that kept showing up right where we wanted to find gray whales. Today: 18 grays!

March 13: Terrific. Terrible wind most of the day, and we saw at least 16 whales.

March 12: 16 today. Before noon, we had 11 whales, all gray whales, all going north. And, like yesterday they preformed some shuffling between groups and one did a disappear/reappear trick after a small boat set out to get up-close-and-personal. Same as yesterday, the gray whales had to work their way through some vigorous foraging by a LOT of common dolphins. We conservatively estimated 1,500 but there could have been twice that many, easy. They were very spread out in a huge area, perhaps ten square miles. Afternoon was toned down. We saw three single, gray whales, then a pair that took us into overtime to check if it might be a trio. Not so.

March 11: Today: 19 whales in all! The day was beautiful from the onset with good observation quality that held through the day. Two, single gray whales tried to make their way through gauntlet, and they seemed to be doing their best to hide, if not from the dolphins, from us. The whales, with one about a mile ahead of the other, were traveling about two miles offshore and then angled in closer with mostly one blow and down from eight to ten minutes. They were difficult to track through all that was going on. A third single tried to sneak by on the inside with no-blow and down. After that we saw not much of anything for two hours. From 1:30 on it was all whales: sixteen. The first two groups were especially interesting. We saw the lead when they were about four miles away. The second group was about a half-mile behind. There was a lot of blowing and tails in the air so they were easy to track and count, even though they traveled more than two miles off Counter Point. It got a tad confusing when they were straight out from us. The first group consisted of two pairs, and we watched as a pair turned around and joined the trail whales, changing that group from three to five. The seven whales continued on as far as we could see them, and we saw them for a long time, almost two hours. During and after the whales kept coming. Some traveled pretty far out, well past Platform Holly, while others cruised by just beyond the surf.

March 10: After two hours 38 minutes the gusts became a sustained gale that forced us to abandon our post for the day. Today: 4 northbound whales.

March 9: Too windy! No counting.

March 8: The morning until 11:00 was whale-free. Nothing. At noon we sighted a pair of gray whales northbound, and we knew trouble (in the form of wind) was coming. Our northbound pair disappeared a mile west of Counter Point in a troubled sea. Not long after that, a Counter spotted blows straight out, maybe two-and-a-half to three miles. We were able to tell there was at least three whales, but there could have been five; and we never saw a body to identify them as gray whales. By this time, we were up to our eye balls in 30 knots of trouble and we had to pack up. Total today: 3.

March 7: We were lucky with the first whale. The only time we saw it was when it blew and dove in front of us. We were surprised to get the good look and make the ID, and not too surprised that we could not find it as it moved west into the wind.

After some time, we saw blows at Campus Point to our left (east). It seemed like two groups, but we were having trouble holding our binoculars still enough to get consistent readings. A pair of gray whales headed right at us, very close to Counter Point, and once again we were able to almost-easily make the ID. Not too much later we saw a blow again to the east and we realized that this must be the other group.

Unfortunately, the wind was now approaching 30 knots and getting stronger. We managed to see approaching blows two or three times as the whale (or whales) approached, but that was it. Though this animal must have passed very close to us as well, we could not find anything in the roiling water. It was very likely another gray whale (or gray whales), but for us it was an unidentified large whale.We were forced to conclude the survey for the day at 11:15 with 3 northbound whales.

March 6: The instability of the atmosphere eventually brought rain to Counter Point about 3:30. It was also windy and dark. However, before we fled, we saw five, northbound, gray whales and a large group of bottlenose dolphins, very close in the surf.

March 5: We had one unidentified, two humpbacks, and three gray whales. Our pair of gray whales blew as we were preparing to open the Count. At the time, we were watching the tug manuevering the Venoco oil barge through the nearshore to a mooring between the buoys just west of our survey site. The whales popped up in the wrong place, ahead of the tug starting its turn. There was no collision, but the whales made a quick dive, and we never saw them again.

March 4: Eight whales today. Our whales were mostly big and traveled mostly in groups: one single, two pairs, and a trio. At times we could see pretty far. We saw blows from a pair at 9:55 and they crossed in front of us an hour and ten minutes later. They weren't dallying. We saw the blows perhaps five miles away. Amazing ...We also wonder about the singles and even the groups were describe. Many times the groups and singles travel a mile, sometimes less, apart. Are they all parts of the same "group?" We are hoping we might get some recordings of vocalizations between these animals. It won't solve the question, but it would be interesting.

March 3: The rain reached us a bit after 4:00 p.m., but not before ten whales swam our season Count past 100!

March 1: Season total so far: 85 northbound gray whales. Today was special! It is not just that we sighted 15 northbound gray whales ... It is that we hope all the whales that swim by Counter Point are chatty because just before we began today's count, scientists from Scripps Whale Acoustic Lab aboard the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary research vessel R/V Shearwater deployed a HARP ((High-Frequency Acoustic Recording Package). This instrument will be listening and recording underwater sounds 24/7 for two months in the Channel about one mile south of Counter Point.

Our sightings were spread across the day in such a way that we had few minutes without an active sighting.

We did have some difficult minutes with whales disappearing, then re-appearing, then splitting up, then moving on. Behind the surface curtain they could have been feeding or exploring the bubbles at a nearby natural oil and gas seep or doing what whales do, in this case holding their breath and swimming underwater.

February 2010

Feb. 25: At 10:40 we saw a pair of northbound gray whales. They moved along to Counter Point, where they blew several times, then disappeared. Usually we don't see such oxygenating, but I guess they really wanted to traverse the major seeps under water. In any case, we did not see them again. At one, another pair cruised by with no attempt to hide. They even slipped through the oil barge buoys to our right and we caught them headed toward the Ellwood oil pier (likely the kelp offshore of the pier). Then, passing in the other direction was a southbound gray whale. Our final pair of northbounders were sighted at four o'clock. None of the whales appeared to be mature whales. Some were bigger than others, but it is likely they were all young.

Feb. 18: Seven northbound whales!

Feb. 15: Total of 17 northbound whales so far.

Feb. 12: Our second northbound gray whale of the 2010 Count may have been the smallest solo whale we have seen in all our surveys. At first, we were not completely convinced it was a whale. The little guy spent a lot of time wandering in the kelp forest. Most of the time, it seemed to be feeding or at least trying to. Perhaps this was the little whale that left Santa Barbara day before yesterday (see video clip below). If so, it has not progressed very rapidly. If not, that makes two little whales. In any case, we wish the whale, or whales, sustenance, stamina, and strength to make the journey north to Alaska.

Michael Smith sent this link to a video clip about a young whale that was seen alone in Santa Barbara Harbor.

Feb. 11: First northbound gray whale! It's Day 4 of our Count. About 10:50 a.m. we saw a blow to the east not far offshore. We knew right away it was a gray whale heading our direction (west), meaning it was northbound. It was a juvenile, maybe making its first or second solo. We tracked it for about 25 minutes as it stayed close to shore and swam though the array of oil-barge buoys.
Yes, that was certainly our highlight, though we can't really say the migration has begun. Juveniles are wild cards that have a mindlessness all their own. As if to prove the point, we saw another juvenile heading south later in the day. How far south the whale goes, only the whales knows. There is not much for a young whale to do in Mexico, so when it gets hungry (which it probably is right now) it will turn around and head north. We'll add it to our northbound count then.