Field Notes 2012
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ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project 2011-2012 • We finished our season with 672 southbound gray whales (including 21 calves), and 1133 northbound grays (including a record 260 calves)! • We set new record high gray whale counts for both December (194 whales) and May (218 whales)! • 672 gray whales is our highest southbound count in the past 10 seasons. • 1133 gray whales is our highest northbound count in the past 15 seasons - and our 7th highest count ever! • Best of all, our record high northbound calf count of 260 broke our past record of 222 calves, set in 1996-1997; there were SO many nearshore cow/calf pairs this season! May 8, 2012 Update As of May 8, the ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project's trained By May 8 last season, we had counted 677 northbound (including 96 calves) Highlights of the past two weeks: LOTS OF COW/CALF PAIRS (up to three pairs Daily Summaries: May 7: Six more calves today: 216 total cow/calf pairs, just 7 more calves will create a new record high! Many gray whale sightings were low profile, including the two single whales; they were difficult to track. Whales were visible undewater on two of eight sightings. Half flukes showed in one sighting; another emitted audible blows. All sightings came pretty close to shore, but not as close as those seen in the past few days. May 6: EIGHT GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIRS: 13 more will break our 28 year May 5: THREE MORE COW//CALF PAIRS, bringing us up to 1003 northbound grays— including 202 calves!! We now have more northbound grays than15 of our last 28 seasons! 21 more calves will bring us to a new record high! We heard blows from one cow/calf pair; the mom dragged her flukes just under the surface. All three sightings came very close to shore, and were visible underwater. May 4: SEVEN GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIRS...199 PAIRS TOTAL AND COUNTING! Bottlenose dolphin swam with two of our seven gray whale sightings: in one pair, whales rolled with dolphin and sea lions, showing sides of flukes for both cow and calf. Sea lions also trailed another sighting. Three cow/calf pairs came by at one time; all were together near Whale Rock, then one pair headed offshore, one pair milled by Whale Rock, and the third pair moved along the edge of the kelp with six bottlenose dolphin keeping pace with them. One sighting emmited audible blows. One sighting included two adult whales. Another sighting kept a very low profile; we counted this as just one whale, since we only saw prints and the back of a gray whale once (there could have been a calf with this one). May 3: Sea lions accompanied three of our seven sightings. Three sea lions with a cow/calf pair barked frequently, darted in and out; the calf rolled. A calf raised its flukes up very high and raised its head high as a sea lion watched. The third calf later raised its head high, and then swam over its mom‚s back. We heard blows on two sightings, and we observed one bubble blast. Whales were visible underwater in five sightings. One single whales was very stealthy; a small boat approached the other single very rapidly. Then the whale fluked and changed direction. May 2: One gray whale released a bubble blast. Another mom lifted her head. May 1: INCREDIBLE DAY: 20 NORTHBOUND GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIRS! At 181 northbound pairs (3rd highest in 28 seasons), we just may pass our record April 30: FOURTEEN GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIRS - despite being hampered by fog in the early morning and late evening. Of the thirteen sightings today: there were audible blows on five sightings, visible whales underwater on five sightings, kelp on the top of the head of cow or calf on four sightings, a calf lifting its head high on three sightings, and a bubble blast from the cow and calf on one sighting. We also tracked low profile whales on three sightings - some of which required a spotting scope to verify them as cow/calf pairs. April 29: One gray whale BREACHED twice. A cow/calf pair rolled. There was a small boat near one cow/calf sighting: the boat was on the inside of the whales, but at a respectful distance. The whales swam under the boat and came into the kelp. Two sightings were visible underwater. One sighting kept a low profile. April 28: Two gray whale cow/calf pairs milled and rolled, showing the side of their flukes; they were accompanied a sea lion. We watched them for over 30 minutes. Another calf came up with its head lying on the water; we could see the whole side of the calf‚s rostrum. One cow/calf pair milled and the mom rolled; then a boat came very close to them and the whales became very low profile. We heard blows on two of ten sightings, and saw flukes on one sighting. One pod included three cow/calf pairs, and another included two pairs. We could see the whales underwater on a few sightings. Our southbound gray whale was a juvenile. April 27: Most of today's gray whales came by in the last two hours. One cow/calf pair swam went into the kelp; the calf SPYHOPPED and lifted its head several times. The calf came up with a necklace of kelp once, and again with kelp over its blowhole; the kelp flew off when the calf exhaled! The mom came up with her calf over her rostrum once; they milled in the kelp for about 10 minutes before moving on. This pair was still in view when A POD OF THREE COW/CALF PAIRS came around Whale Rock. The mom rolled, with several bottlenose dolphin nearby; we saw her pectoral fin and the side of her very white fluke. Three cow/calf pairs were visible underwater, and one whale blew a bubble blast. A third whale swam with one sighting. April 26: One gray whale SPYHOPPED through the kelp. In another sighting April 25: One gray whale cow/calf pair passed by VERY close to shore; the April 24, 2012 Update We are nearing the peak of our cow/calf migration phase. We have spotted 89 of our 100 northbound cow/calf pairs since April 9: 34 (of these 89 calves) in the past 3 days! These are our highest northbound calf counts in many years: last season we ENDED our census on May 15 with 110 cow/calf pairs - and we considered that to be a very good season! Calf counts may increase slightly, stay nearly the same, or begin to drop over the next week. Our northbound cow/calf counts held steady at about 6 pairs/day for several days, until the recent spike. Our highest days so far have been April 22 and April 24: on each of these days we counted 15 northbound cow/calf pairs and 6 singles (36 total gray whales). We RARELY have seen 15 pairs in one day; last season the peak days included just 9 pairs! ! The most amazing day was April 22, when we counted all 36 whales in just 6 hours (the other 6 hours had no visibility due to fog). Could we be on a record pace for cow/calf pairs? We have had four seasons of northbound calf counts that included at least 174 calves; our highest northbound calf count (over 28 seasons) was 222. Since we haven't hit the definitive cow/calf peak yet, we may just approach that record count! Highlights of the past two weeks: LOTS OF COW/CALF PAIRS (up to three pairs traveling together) - often VERY close to shore and keeping a very low profile: calves on moms' backs, NURSING, calves playing, open mouths, bubble blasts, head lifts, spyhops, kelp decorating bodies, lots of milling and rolling, some came in close enough so that we heard their blows, pods joined and separated. Other species observed included fin whale (feeding) nearly every day, blue whale, humpback whale, minke whale (BREACHING), common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, Risso's dolphin...along with California sea lions and harbor seals. Daily Summaries: April 23: Despite great visibility (no fog) and calm seas, we saw just four gray whale cow/calf pairs (compared to yesterday's 15 that came by during the six hours we had visibility). Three pairs kept a low profile; a boat ran over one pair, which immediately changed to a low profile mode. We heard blows of one cow/calf pair. A sea lion swam with the last sighting. April 22: 5 GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIRS! We may have had even more, but morning fog obscured visibility. A cow/calf milled in the kelp for over an hour; both mom and calf came up with kelp on their heads! The cow released a bubble blast, and her calf raised its pectoral fin into the air. The calf laid on its mom's back; several times they raised their heads up high. Another cow/calf pair milled for a whale, and the calf also raised its head up high; the water turned white next to this pair - the calf must have been NURSING! A sea lion accompanied another sighting. There were audible blows during one sighting, and three sightings milled. Whales raised heads on three sightings; two sightings included kelp on the head of one or both whales. April 21: We had a lot of fog again today, challenging our whale sighting abilities; it cleared up later. We saw a bubble blast in the kelp, followed by a calf dragging its flukes on top of the water. One cow/calf pair passed us very quickly. There were audible blows during a sighting that followed the edge of the kelp and disappeared into the fog. Four of the six sightings came very close to shore; two were within a half mile of shore. April 20: Fog really limited our visibility; we had no visibility at all for 3-4 hours. Five of our twelve gray whale sightings were lost in fog. One sighting of 5-6 gray whales included 2 rolling calves. We heard blows during this sighting and during another sighting that was about 100 yards behind them. A single whale headed north, then turned south for a while before returning north; this behavior was like that of a cow/calf pair, but we could only verify one whale before we lost it in the fog. April 19: All sightings came close to shore; most were found close to Whale Rock. Dolphin accompanied two sightings. We spotted one cow/calf pair that was EXTREMELY close to shore; dolphin and sea lions circled them twice. In the other sighting, the calf rolled - we could see its flukes under the water. One of our two single whales was just ahead of a cow/calf pair; the three of them joined up after they got past us. One cow/calf pair was low profile, passing us a little further offshore. April 18: A gray whale cow/ calf pair interacted with some bottlenose dolphin, including a calf. The gray whale calf rolled, and its mom swam on her back for a bit. The whales swam along the edge of the kelp; we could see dolphin jumping all around the whales. The calf keep rolling; we could see its pectoral fins, its belly and the side of its flukes. The mom did about five bubble blasts - some while the dolphin were with them, and some after the dolphin left. The whales milled and headed back south for a while. We watched this pair for forty-five minutes. Another calf rolled. One calf had a lot of white on its head; we could see these whales underwater. All sightings came very close to shore, passing very close to Whale Rock. Our single whale kept a very low profile. April 17: All seven gray whale sightings came very close to shore; most came in to just above the kelp line, and all of the sightings came close to Whale Rock. We heard blows on one sighting. Cow/calf pairs are often low profile and hard to track: a few today were low profile, and our single whale kept a very low profile. April 16: SPYHOPPING CALF! Fog hindered today's visibility: it rolled in about 8am, and did not start to lift until noon. It came and went for a bit in the early afternoon, then about 5:30pm it rolled back in. First we saw two cow/calf pairs traveling together. Another gray whale calf lifted its head up and then a few minutes later did a spyhop; we could see the calf's eye! Then they milled and the calf rolled, showing the sides of its fluke. We heard blows on three of our seven sightings. Two low-profile sightings included a single and a pair of gray whales. April 15: Huge swells today - and lots of calves! All twelve gray whale sightings came very close to shore; we saw the whales underwater in four sightings. One cow/calf pair rode the face of a swell. One sighting was low profile and difficult to see due to the swells. April 14: INE GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIRS TODAY - despite lots of wind and high swells; we could see the body of one whale in the crest of a wave! Most of our cow/calf pairs came very close to shore, sometimes just above the fence. Our first cow/calf pair milled for about five minutes, and the calf fluked. Nine cow/calf pairs is a GREAT count; we have had a nine (or more) cow/calf pair day in just eight of the past twenty-five seasons. April 13: Lots of wind and driving rain throughout the day greatly reduced our sighting conditions. Our first three single gray whales came close to shore. After that, we didn't see any whales between 9:40am until almost 6:00pm. Then five pairs of grays passed us; three of the five pairs were definitely cow/calf pairs. All cow/calf pairs came in very close to shore, just above the fence line. One calf was laying on its mom's back. April 12: Our first gray whale came in close to shore. We saw it over Whale Rock; it blew twice and then was gone. Next came a very stealthy pair of whales that we found and then tracked primarily by their flukeprints. They raised their heads just enough to expose their blowholes, and then submerged; we could see the whales underwater. Our cow/calf pair came in close to shore. The mom lifted her head up high twice while they were in the kelp. The calf started out on the right side of its mom and then moved to her left side - possibly nursing. After that activity, they moved on and did not show much. April 11: A pair of gray whales came in close to shore. April 10: Our two juvenile gray whales came about 2 hours apart. Although they came very close to shore, they were hard to track and did not fluke. One whale milled near our transect for a short time.
April 11, 2012 Update This compares to 459 northbound (including 10 calves) and 447 southbound (including 26 calves) by April 9 last season. We have spotted 103 of our 540 northbound gray whales since March 26. Our cow/calf migration phase has begun. We have spotted 8 of our 11 calves in northbound cow/calf pairs since March 26. Calf counts should continue to increase in number over the next few weeks, and will probably peak near the end of April. The gray whales continue to come by in pulses: higher count days followed by lower count days and then higher count days. Highlights of the past two weeks: We witnessed an entangled gray whale that has been "marked" with two large orange buoys the previous evening, notified the disentanglement team, and got to see them free this whale! We also saw lots of cow/calf pairs, bubble blasts, lots of milling and rolling grays (possibly courting or mating), many breaches, some close enough for us to hear their blows, pods joined and separated. Other species observed included approximately 8 ORCAS, fin whales (feeding) nearly every day, blue whales, common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, and Risso's dolphin...along with California sea lions and harbor seals. April 8: A pair of gray whales came within a mile offshore; one fluked at each sounding. The third whale—a very large adult—also approached within a mile offshore; it never fluked. April 7: No gray whales but we saw ORCAS! We found them at about 2:15pm; lots of splashes turned out to be about six ORCAS and they were doing several SPYHOPS! There appeared to be four females and two males. We spotted them when they were over a mile away; they passed us at about 3/4 mile off. One of the males looked like— and was confirmed by whalewatch boats as — "Chopfin," a well-known transient orca who is missing the top half of his dorsal fin! We watched these orcas for about 45 minutes. After they went out of sight, two large pods of common dolphin came into view, moving VERY fast; we later heard that some of the orcas had been chasing these common dolphin nearby. April 6: SIGHTING OF THE DAY: One gray whale BREACHED seven times in a row, right down in front of us! A pod of three whales passed us. Since our two cow/calf pairs were not very showy, we were very glad that they came in close to shore - making it easy to identify them. Five sightings came close to shore; another was a mile and a half offshore, and the other one was over four miles away. April 5: HERE COME THE CALVES! All gray whales came close to shore. One calf was very small and very difficult to see. We saw the head of another calf. The third mom was smaller than the first two moms. Our single whale was a VERY low profile whale that we tracked by its flukeprints; we could see the whale underwater when it was right down in front of us. April 4: One gray whale SPYHOPPED right in front of us! A pod of three whales rolled - very close to shore. Two of our seven sightings kept a low profile. Two sightings included some large adults. There were three trios, one pair, and the rest were singles. Most whales came in very close to shore; two sightings came within a mile of shore. April 3: Our gray whale pair came within a mile offshore. These adults has nicely visible blows, and fluked simultaneously once; their long dives lasted about 9 minutes (compared to 3-6 minutes for the average gray whale). One or two fin whales passed within a mile offshore. April 2: One northbound gray whale went into the kelp; it lifted its head high (nearly SPYHOPPING), with kelp streaming off of its rostrum. Our first gray whale came early in the morning, headed south; the second southbound whale came four and a half hours later. We found four of our eight sightings after they had passed us. One bubbleblast turned out to be a northbound gray whale. The last sighting was a pair of whales that milled down in front of us. April 1: Lots of strong wind and large waves made it difficult to find and track whales. On our last sighting we saw the gray whales at their first surfacing, but couldn't find them again. All four sightings passed within a mile offshore. Mar 31: Drizzle and fog limited our morning visibility. Our first pod of three gray whales rolled and slapped their pectoral fins on the water, spun around on the surface, and displayed some spectacular triple headstands - all three with their rears in the air! We watched this probable courtship behavior until they disappeared into the fog. Several whales kept a low profile; we tracked two of the six sightings by following their flukeprints. We heard blows on one sighting. Mar 30: Our first pod—three gray whales—came in close to shore and rolled, with their pectoral fins waving above the water. Initially they were separated, but then joined up. Next came a juvenile that was not very showy; it came close to shore, and fluked near Whale Rock. Mar 29: WHAT AN EXCITING DAY despite the fog, which made viewing difficult. First we saw a gray whale COW/CALF PAIR that was swimming along the edge of the kelp; they went into the cove just north of us. Next we spotted two large orange buoys moving northward, about 200 yards offshore: we recognized these as the same ones that we had been were alerted to. They had been attached to an ENTANGLED JUVENILE GRAY WHALE off of Dana Point yesterday! We spotted the buoys at 9:06am; the entangled whale was accompanied by a larger whale. We watched then for about two hours, helping the Voyager whalewatching vessel (the only boat around) locate these whales that were on the verge of disappearing into the fog. The Voyager stayed with the whales for about an hour, keeping them in sight for the rescue team that was en route; during that time the companion whale left and moved on. We were unable to see these whales, but could track them by seeing the location of the Voyager and the three rescue boats and inflatable. At 1:33pm the rescue boats began to depart the scene (after freeing this whale). All seven sightings were within a half mile offshore. Mar 28: A pair of gray whales interacted with some bottlenose dolphin: we saw a SPYHOP, a few pectoral fins, and lots of rolling around. Another pair of grays reacted to a speeding boat: as it raced past them, they made a sharp turn out toward sea, but then they came back and milled in their original spot before heading north. Three of our ten sightings were low profile and difficult to spot and follow. All whales came within a half mile of shore. Three sightings milled. Mar 27: Our first gray whale came in very close to shore; it was in "stealth mode." We only saw twice: blows and a flukeprint. Next came a pair that were four miles offshore; we spent nearly an hour trying to verify that there were just two whales, and that they were indeed gray whales. March 28, 2012 Update Highights of the past two weeks: One whale bobbed up and down for hours—open mouth in or near the kelp (apparently feeding), bubbleblasts, several open-mouthed gray whales displaying their yellow baleen, mating grays, lots of milling and rolling grays (possibly courting or mating), gray whales rolling with dolphin and sea lions, many breaches, some came in close enough so that we heard their blows, pods joined and separated. Other species observed included fin whales (feeding) nearly every day, one blue whale, one humpback whale, common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, and Risso's dolphin...along with California sea lions and harbor seals. Mar 25: Lots of heavy rain and very strong winds made viewing very difficult! One gray whale passed just beyond the kelpline, and raised its flukes up very high (like a sperm whale); as we watched it fluke, we could see the back of the second whale. Mar 24: First came a pod of four whales that encountered some bottlenose dolphin. Then the whales started to roll, showing lots of pectoral fins; one whale slapped its pectoral fin on the water, and another whale lifted its fluke and whole peduncle out of the water and then slapped it down. They slashed their flukes a lot, and kept rolling. In another triad one large whale BREACHED twice, and then a smaller whale BREACHED twice; these whales also rolled. All came within a mile offshore, with two sightings very close to shore. Mar 23: The first two times we saw our first gray whale, it surfaced with its head high up. On its third surfacing, it BREACHED in front of us just Mar 22: One gray whale BREACHED once - very close to shore. Several observers were looking through binoculars and one person was looking through a spotting scope as they caught this very large surprise breach. The breacher was in a pod of five whales. We first thought that this was a trio, then a quartet, and finally a fivesome - once they broke up into two pods (a pair and a triad). Three sightings circled and milled right down in front of us. All sightings came within a half mile of shore; we heard blows on two sightings. Mar 21: Our GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIR was about a half mile offshore. The mom was very "stealthy." The calf was riding on its mom's back, a behavior Mar 20: Our last sighting was a GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIR that came in very Mar 19: 50 GRAY WHALES TODAY!! MATING! Ideal sighting conditions helped us to reach our highest gray whale count since the 64 whales we tallied last March 21 (which was our highest count in many years). However, a lot of them passed far offshore; 6 of the 24 sightings (17 gray whales) were more Mar 18: BREACHING, ROLLING AND MATING! Nineteen grays tallied today - quite amazing, considering the extremely windy (and cold) conditions throughout our day! We first sighted a gray whale trio that rolled, showed a pectoral fin, and then moved on. Next came a pod of four that was close enough to see underwater. At 12:30pm we found pair that rolled and exhibited definite mating behavior (penile display). They breached a few times and did a lot Mar 17: Due to high winds and rain, it was very challenging to spot and track whales today. One gray whale sighting started out as two sightings (a pair and a single). They joined up and encountered some bottlenose dolphin; the whales were rolling, waving a pectoral fin. These whales were very close to shore - just above the fenceline. All sightings were within a third of a mile offshore. Mar 16: Two gray whale pods joined up right down in front of us, resulting in five large whales that rolled and milled - displaying sides of flukes and pectoral fins. We could hear their blows. We found them at 10;30 am; by noon they had just made it to the PV buoy - still rolling. Our first whale was a juvenile that bobbed and logged, and then moved on. Another low-profile whale swam along the edge of the kelp. The southbound whale was a juvenile. Four sightings were very close to shore, three were within a mile of shore, and one sighting was about two miles offshore. Mar 15: We watched a white-headed juvenile gray whale that we nicknamed Mar 14: One gray whale passed us very close to shore, one was about half a mile offshore, and the other pair were about a mile offshore. March 13, 2012 Update We are now firmly in the northbound migration phase, with just a few southbound grays occasionally spotted. We spotted our FIRST NORTHBOUND Highights of the past two weeks: Some gray whales close to shore—some so Daily Summaries: Mar. 12: SIGHTING OF THE DAY: One juvenile gray whale bobbed on the surface Mar. 11: SIGHTING OF THE DAY: FIRST NORTHBOUND COW/CALF PAIR! First we Mar. 10: SIGHTING OF THE DAY: A young gray whale with a lot of white pigment Mar. 9: Our first grays came in a trio; one rolled. When another pair encountered some common dolphin, these whales started rolling, waving their Mar. 8: Our first large gray whale fluked. The next trio was so close that we could hear their blows. They stayed down for twelve minutes; after they passed our transect, they moved further offshore. One whale joined with a pod of bottlenose dolphin and Risso's dolphin and rolled, showing its pectoral fin and the side of its fluke. It continued to roll with these dolphin, moving behind the nearby cliff and out of our view. When the whale came back from behind the cliff it became very stealth. Mar. 7: Message from our observers: Although very large swells made tracking Mar. 6: BREACHING WHALES - right down in front of us! One gray whale breached three times; another whale did a half breach. Our southbound whales came at different times, moving swiftly; one was small and the other was quite large. Most northbound whales came in pairs; one sighting was a trio. Mar. 5: Our first gray whale came early this morning: it BREACHED once, traveled with sea lions, and came very close to shore. The next pair of large whales came so close to shore that we could hear their blows. Our final whale traveled low profile about half of a mile offshore. We never saw it blow; we did see the top of its head, and tracked it using its flukeprints. Mar. 4: Our first pair of gray whales came approached to about two miles offshore, then headed back offshore again. This large whale and juvenile Mar. 3: Some gray whales were quite stealthy: One whale visibly blew just Mar. 2: Message from our observers: Our southbound gray whale traveled Mar 1: Message from our observers: We saw our first pair of gray whales for Feb. 29: Message from our observers: Our first gray whale was very stealthy;
We are coming out of the turnaround period, with more gray whales going Highights of the past two weeks: Many gray whales close to shore, some so Daily Summaries: Feb. 27: Fog, cold strong wind, and light rain created poor viewing conditions for most of our day. We did see at least three fin whales that were over four miles offshore, as well as some nearshore bottlenose dolphin. Feb. 26: All gray whales came solo today. Our southbound whales were both Feb. 25: First we saw a northbound gray whale pair. Then we saw a single Feb. 24: Our first gray whale was southbound. It would surface three times Feb. 23: We found our first northbound gray whale after it was well past us; Feb. 22: We saw the blow and the back of our southbound gray whale just once. It must have gone stealth. It was about a mile offshore. Feb. 21: A whalewatch boat originally found our southbound gray whale pair; Feb. 20: Sub-par visibility today: no whales. We did see two pods of common Feb. 19: Although we had no gray whales (VERY rare for us this time of year), we did see two fin whales that were only about a mile and half offshore, as well as dolphin. Feb. 18: Several low profile gray whales left flukeprints behind, helping us track them. One whale blew just twice; another whale's flukeprints circled around once, then continued northward. All whales were singles; most came within a half mile of shore. Feb. 17: First we saw a pair of slow-moving northbound gray whales that were Feb. 16: There were two gray whale sightings. A juvenile would blow once and Feb. 15: Poor sighting conditions today: it was cold, foggy, rainy, and windy. High wind caused rain to come down sideways for a while! No gray whales today. Feb. 14: We did not see our southbound whale until it was almost past us; it February 15 Update We are right in the middle of our migration turnaround, with gray whales going in both directions. We have to be especially vigilant in tracking our whales, so that we do not get these mixed up as they pass by one another. February 10 was the first date that we saw more northbound grays than southbounders. However, on February 11 we had mostly southbound grays; this flip-flopping is to be expected throughout the next week during this turnaround time - as the southbound migration tails off and the northbound migration picks up. Just yesterday, we spotted 9 northbound and 8 southbound gray whales. We should continue seeing both northbound and southbound gray whales this week. We seem to be experiencing a rather unusual overlap in the migrations phases this season, with substantial numbers of grays going in each direction; normally we see a gap between migrations, with few whales seen going in either direction - generally in mid-February. By next week, we will probably be seeing mostly northbound gray whales. By our next posting (in two weeks), we should be well into the northbound migration. Highlights of the past two weeks: Many gray whales close to shore—some so Daily Summaries: Feb. 12: The gray whale cow/calf pair changed directions a few times, then Feb 11: A pair of gray whales milled for an hour and a half, displaying both a spyhop and a head lift! Another whale surfed in on a wave one time. Another pair of whales also milled. One sighting was about one mile offshore; all of the others came within a half mile of shore, including two just above the fence line. Feb. 10: Sighting of the day: One southbound gray whale encountered a few hundred common dolphin traveling in the opposite direction. This whale lifted its head high and rolled over, continuing to swim on its back; dolphin leaped over its head! It rolled several times, showing the sides of its flukes. It repeatedly raised its pectoral fin, and once slapped it on the water. A sea lion joined the fun. We watched this for nearly 10 minutes within a half mile of shore. Then the dolphin continued north as the whale headed south. Another southbound whale crossed paths with a northbound whale in front of us. All sightings came within a half mile of shore. Feb. 9: A pair of southbound gray whales rolled and milled down in front of us for over an hour. While we were watching them, another pair of southbound whales came in — joined with one of the two milling whales — and moved on as a trio. The remaining whale continued to mill for another 20 minutes before continuing on. We watched three northbound pods: one was slow-moving, one was fast-moving, and the third appeared to swim at an average pace. Feb. 8: At one point we were watching two gray whales headed north and two whales headed south. The northbound whales were taking their time, staying down for over 15 minutes and then not moving very far; at the same time the southbound whales breezed right on by. There were three sightings that we did not see until they were almost right in front of us; then we saw them just one or two more times. All sightings were within a half mile of shore. Feb. 7: Several southbound gray whales swam by at a fast pace. Two nearshore sightings seemed to disappear. One of these whales stuck its head out of the water each time that it came up; it was a juvenile with lots of white pigment and orange lice on its head. Another whale did a bubble blast. Six sightings came very close to shore; some were just above the fence line. Feb. 6: First we saw a pod of three northbound gray whales that fluked frequently; they came in so close to shore that we heard their blows. Another whale also came in close to shore; we lost it for forty minutes when it went into a nearby the cove. Finally it showed up - escorted by bottlenose dolphin that were jumping over its head! This whale rolled once and then continued on. Next we saw a pair of southbound whales; they got into a lot of interaction with the bottlenose dolphin. We watched them for over forty-five minutes. They came in to just above the fence line, giving us a good look at them while they were rolling: We saw their pectoral fins, bellies, and the sides of their flukes. While we were watching them roll, a northbound whale showed up, making it difficult to keep these sightings separated. Feb. 5: Our first gray whale sighting came in so close that we could hear the blows. The next sighting milled just above the kelp. One whale kept to such a low profile that all we saw was the area around its blowholes. One sea lion swam with one sighting, with no obvious interactions. Feb. 4: Dolphin and sea lions accompanied a pair of gray whales; one whale rolled as the dolphin were jumping over its head! Another whale traveled low profile in stealth mode. Later we found a juvenile in the kelp down in front of us. All sightings came within a half mile offshore; about half of them were close to the kelp line. Feb. 3: We first saw a pod of three gray whales; two large and one small. Next we saw a stealthy whale that came close to shore. The two northbound whales came at separately. One whale milled near our transect — about a half mile offshore — for over minutes. A sailboat cruised right over the spot where the whale had submerged; when this whale surfaced, it continued north. Feb. 2: Four of our five sightings came within a half mile of shore. A guest visiting the PVIC found one whale by spotting the head of a low-profile juvenile pop up in the kelp. We heard blows on one sighting. Feb. 1: Our two southbound gray whales came at the same time; they were very close to shore, and we heard their blows and saw flukes. Our two northbound whales came at two different times; one was close to shore, and the other was about a mile offshore. January 30, 2012 Update Watch for This: The gray whale migration off our area usually shifts from southbound to primarily northbound between February 9-February 21: this is called the turnaround period. Summary from Dec. 1, 2011 to January 30, 2012 at the ACS/LA Gray
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