Laguna San Ignacio census 25 January
There are 41 calves and 73 single gray whales for a total of 114 whales.
Countdown begins!
Please forgive the lack of recent blogs…we are busy getting the boat and ourselves ready for the start to our Baja Whalewatching tour season. The first tour and the lucky 25 passengers are set to leave on Tuesday, February 7. You can be sure we will be adding posts DAILY from that day on.
With ideal winter weather (cross fingers it continues) and record sightings of migrating gray whales, orcas in Southern California, a satellite-tagged western gray whale coming over to the eastern Pacific, and loads of other marine-related news, we are really excited to share all this with our passengers! The first trips’ naturalists are Marc Webber (coming in from snowy Alaska) and Paul Jones (just a hop, skip and a jump away in San Francisco bay area), plus our stellar Searcher crew, we are READY to ROLL (well, maybe we need a bit of food aboard first!)
Please stay tuned and check back often!
celia
Memorial Day Wildlife Weekend for 2012
We’re booking spots now on the May 26-28 trip. We’ll be in search of blue whales, herd of dolphin and seabirds galore! Join us for 2.5 days at sea.
Updated information on the WESTERN gray whale
A satellite-tagged gray whale from the Russian side of the Pacific has crossed over to join the Eastern gray whales on southbound migration. We plan to watch for her (the satellite tag is visible on her back) on our trips into Baja’s San Ignacio Lagoon and in the open ocean. Click here for a map of her migration path: http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2011
Here is a post from Dr Bruce Mate of Oregon State University:
“More on Varvara, the western gray whale from Russia, now in Baja, CA. Interview with Dr. Bruce Mate: “…too early to know for sure what’s happening. One idea is that some grays near Russia are actually eastern grays that have sought out new territory because there are so many whales along the United States and Canada. Another possibility is that some western Pacific whales routinely cross the ocean but they haven’t been discovered until now”. Stay tuned!”
January 19 census in Laguna San Ignacio
As of 19 January, there are 23 cow/calf pairs and 29 single gray whales. That is a total of 75 whales!
Dolphin-whale interaction study
Passed on from Naturalist Paul Jones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lC3AkGSigrA
January 14 seabird and whale report by Dave Povey
I took a group of non birding whale watchers offshore Saturday.
Black-vented Shearwaters: 300 plus. Most in smaller groups of 10 or less and scattered all the way from the outer edge of the kelp line to the innner edge of the “Nine Mile Bank.”
Bonaparte’s Gulls: 6 .
Common Murre: 1 just outside the kelp bed.
Xantus’ Murrlets: 2 pairs, both inside the “Nine Mile Bank.”
Cassin’s Auklets: 60+ were on the outside edge of the “Nine Mile Bank.” Some so full of krill they were unable to fly.
Rhinoceros Auklets: 50+, most closer to shore than the “Nine Mile Bank,” with one inside the kelp bed. Seen singly and small groups of up to 6.
Parasitic Jaeger,: 1 seen on the water, mid ship channel, inside Point Loma.
It was a very nice day for whale viewing, with 13-15 southbound gray whales, 3 very friendly fin whales, on the outer edge of the “Nine Mile Bank.” We also saw a small pod of risso’s dolphin (5-6), on the outer edge of the “Nine Mile Bank.” Common Dolphin where all over the area, with 10+ pods (or maybe just one large widely scattered pod) for a total of 150+ animals. Calif. sea lions (40+) rounded out our marine mammals.
Cool, partly to mostly cloudy, calm to light east breeze, great visiblity (we could see San Gorgonio Mtn to the north, and San Clemente Island to the west, from the “Nine Mile Bank.”). Sea surface temps were 56.8 to 58.9
Dave Povey, Dulzura, CA
What gray whale calves do in Laguna San Ignacio
Video by Steve Lamb
6-8 gray whales in San Ignacio Lagoon
The early migration has reached at least one of the Baja birthing/mating lagoons. Our colleagues in Laguna San Ignacio report sighting between 6-8 whales today.
