The Gray Whale Advocate Newsletter

Contents, both editorial and photographic are:

Hello everyone: I know there are a number of you who wondered when the next issue of this newsletter would arrive. Here it is. As always this newsletter deals with Gray Whale happenings and Baja California, Mexico where the gray whales migrate to each winter.

I’ve been asked how the events following September 11^th will affect whales, whale watching and our travel to the lagoons. The most significant affect will be in the number of people who stay home this year. Baja tourism has fallen off dramatically in the last month. Our website hits have dropped from between 150 to 300 per day to about 10 to 50 depending on the day.

Be assured I will continue to travel to Guerrero Negro to observe the gray whales as I have every year for over a decade. Several trip dates are nearly booked full. Interest is again beginning to pick up for the weekend flydown air charter trips. This year we are able to offer two great airplanes.

The question I want to talk about in this issue is the Gray Whale migration dates. Everyone wants to know when the whales begin to travel south from the Arctic. When do they begin their journey north again? When do they leave the lagoons of Baja? How long does the trip take? Do they travel in family groups (pods) like the orcas? Read on to discover the answer to these and other questions about the migration.

Here is an interesting web page that gives you a choice of dates. You fill in the date and the map shows where the greatest concentration of gray whales can be found on that particular date. It is interesting, but not quite accurate, due to the general nature of the data. If you have school age children they will love this map. Compliments of Cabrillo Marine Museum.

Click this link to view

http://www.ocregister.com/science/features/seaview/whales/migration/new_migration_shock.shtml .

Sometime in late fall, beginning in October or November the individual gray whales begin to feel the pull of the warm southern waters. They have been feeding non-stop for months and have added several tons to their body weight.

The first whales to begin slowly moving south are probably those who are feeding in the most northerly waters. The seasons change rapidly in the north. Fall is momentary prelude to the cold stormy winter that is soon to come. The water temperature drops a degree or so, the storm track begins to open for the winter and the gray whales are on the move south.

By December many whales are seen moving southward off of Vancouver Island. In Southern California the largest daily count of southward moving whales will occur in late January.

This chart was copied from the American Cetacean Society web site.

Popular books indicate the peak time is mid-February off the coast of Southern California. That may be true, some years, if you count all gray whales, whether they are moving north or south. Note that each year a few whales are seen off the coast of Southern California as early as December 1^st. This date could actually be earlier, but that is the official opening day for the census station so whales passing earlier are not recorded.

The gray whales are said to swim at average speeds of 1 ½ to 2 miles per hour. Gray whales don’t sleep all night. They are catnappers taking short 10 to 30 minute naps throughout the day and night. The actual time it takes a whale to make the migration is dependent on number of factors.

Those of you who have traveled to the Lagoons know that each whale has his or her own personality. Even though they are driven by this little understood compulsion to migrate, they are still intelligent self thinking individuals. They are able to freely make minute by minute choices in their normal daily activities. One individual may start south and never stop until she reaches Laguna Ojo de Liebre. Another guy may spend days or weeks along the way, playing, chasing members of the opposite sex, or even free feeding when presented the opportunity by a nearby swarm of shrimp or pelagic ghost crabs.

Free choice by individuals within a species whose very existence is tied to the annual migration is an interesting topic. Researchers in the northern waters have reliably recorded observations of "resident Gray whales". These are gray whales that have broken the migration compulsion and spend the winter in northern waters. Several are known to frequent the vicinity of Vancouver Island.

When do the gray whales arrive in the breeding lagoons of Baja California, Mexico where I spend my winters? Laguna Ojo de Liebre (formerly Scammons’ Lagoon) is the most northerly of the three lagoons. This is where I hang out most of the time. The first whales arrive in December. When? Each year is different, but certainly the very first whale is usually spotted inside the lagoon sometime around Christmas.

If the whales begin arriving near the end of December, then when do they leave the lagoon? Observations seem to indicate that there is an ongoing turnover of the whale population during the whale watching season.

Whales enter the lagoon, others leave. It is widely believed by many of us who spend time there each year that some of the whales may enter Laguna Ojo de Liebre as they travel south. Then for whatever reason, they leave and continue south to San Ignacio or Magdalena Bay. On their return trip from the more southerly lagoons, these same animals may enter the next lagoon north and take a break. Then once again continue traveling northward.

The forgoing paragraph is speculation based upon my personal observations. This informal observation has not been correlated by any simultaneous and ongoing research at each lagoon. The only way to know for sure is to identify individuals and record them again if they do really enter another lagoon.

When do the whales begin to migrate north? If you look closely at the migration count on the charts you will see that by the end of January there are already some northward bound animals being sighted. Generally I have observed the big rush north doesn’t begin until mid-March. At mid-March there are still nearly as many whales in the lagoon as there were mid-February.

Each year the later southbound whales pass by the early northbound whales. This again is an indication that the individual personality of each whale gives him or her the freedom to choose when to travel. I view the migratory compulsion as something that must certainly be, to the gray whales, like a coffee addiction is to some of us humans.

By the end of March the count is certainly way down. Last year there were still whales in the lagoon well into April.

Another interesting aspect of the migration is how far south the whales actually migrate. 10 to 20 years ago, it was almost unheard of to see a gray whale along the mainland of Mexico’s West Coast. Or to see gray whales inside the Gulf of California, North of Cabo.

Since the population has rebounded and possibly stabilized, there are now more whales seen near the southern end of the Baja Peninsula. Thousands? No, but at least dozens and up.

Do the whales eat once they begin their migration? Do they eat inside the lagoons? Scientists and popular whale book authors have finally begun acknowledging the possibility that the whales do eat something along the way.

I have observed whales feeding inside the lagoon. Eating habits will be the topic of another newsletter. Here I will just say that most carnivores we know of are opportunistic feeders. They may have a favorite food source, but when they are hungry all carnivores will take whatever prey comes along. It is my personal opinion that Gray whales are no different.

Almost daily I receive a question in my email asking what is the best time to go whale watching in the lagoons. I’ll end this newsletter by discussing that question.

I believe mating is an early season activity. It always seems to me that the mating activity tapers off as the season progresses. Observing these huge 30, 40 and 50 foot long animals mating is an exciting experience. They breech, they dive, roll one way then the other, they swim really really fast, quickly submerge then surface to start all over again.

They generally ignore us in our tiny 22 foot pangas. Mating activity can take place over a distance of a mile or more. I’ve been on a panga where we sat in one spot for about an hour as two mating groups swam all around us. One minute the whales would be nearly out of sight on horizon. Then they would be back, churning the water and racing around us.

Early in the season the baby whales are of course very young. Those mothers who have just given birth are tired and stay relatively quiet as they recuperate. The mother/baby pair spends the first week or two simply sleeping and feeding the baby.

Later in the season the mating activity is replaced by a larger population of juvenile whales. These youngsters always remind me of young puppies. They harass their mothers endlessly with the unbridled energy only the youth of all species seem to have. This can be interesting to observe.

Along the way the curious whales, whether adult or juvenile, can add to the excitement when they approach us. They turn the tables on the whale watchers as they become people watchers.

When is the best time to go? From my viewpoint anytime is the right time. I spend every minute that I can at the lagoon during the whale watching season. My personal goal, still not achieved, is to arrive the day after Christmas and go out onto the lagoon every day from then until the last whale has left the lagoon.

That’s all for now.

Keith (baja) Jones

Baja Jones Adventure Travel

and coming soon:

www.whalesforkids.org

www.whales4kids.org