12/27/24 - Quick Return on NA Right Whales

     Earlier this month I went on a 12-hour pelagic trip out of Cape May, NJ.  During that trip with the Cape May Whale and Research Center we encountered a pair of endangered North Atlantic right whales.  The whales were interacting with each near the surface.  We spent nearly an hour watching the whales from a safe and required minimum distance.  Everyone on board enjoyed the encounter and many photographs were taken.  
Two North Atlantic right whales off of Cape May, 12/14/2024.  © S. Weiss
Their partial genealogies come to light.

As I normally do when I have a whale encounter, I sent some of my photos to research organizations that track and maintain catalogs of whales.  I sent what I thought were the best photos I had which I felt would best be useful in identifying the individuals.  For right whales I know that scientists use the callosities found on and around their heads.  The callosities are unique to right whales and are akin to human fingerprints.  On humpback whales, their tail flukes are used in the same way.  Sometimes scars and wounds are helpful in identifying whales of various species.

I sent photos to Happywhale.com which deals mostly with humpback whales but collects information on all sea mammals.  I also sent photos to North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, and on the Whale Alert app.  Within a few days I received an email from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium which maintains a NA right whale catalog.  They were passing along information to me on the right whales.

One of the whales was identified as #4440 in their catalog.  #440 is a male born in 2014.  His name is Avalanche.  His mother is Naevus, #2040.  The other whale has not yet been catalogued.  However, they know that it was born in 2022, and its mother is Tripelago, #2614.  The email informed me that it takes about two years for a whale to be catalogued because their callosities are still growing.  The researchers have air surveillance photos of the younger whale but also require shipboard identification and genetic sampling.  Our trip provided them with the young whale’s first shipboard images, making it closer to being a cataloged whale.
Avalanche, the North Atlantic right whale.   © S. Weiss

Avalanche (left) and the 3-year-old child (fin on left) of Tripelago.  © S. Weiss


Finding out about the whale’s story is interesting, but being part of a whale’s story is more rewarding.










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birds of Island Beach State Park in Print

Image
     Over a year ago I started a project to document all the birds recorded at my favorite spot, Island Beach State Park in Ocean County, NJ.  I wanted it to be in book form so that my work would be available to the public.  Since I wanted to be in full control of the project, and work with my own timeline, I chose to use one of the self publishing companies available on the internet.  I chose to format the book as a summary account of all the birds found at the park, instead of a field guide.  I used available data from several sources, such as eBird , New Jersey Birds Record Committee and historic bird banding records.  When all the research was done, the final tally was 350 full species for the park. Front and back covers.   © S. Weiss The birds were presented in the latest taxonomical order with both common and scientific names.  Each bird’s abundance is described, such as common , scarce , rare , historical , etc.  The mo...
Read more

24 Hour Cape May Pelagic, 6/18-6/19- Skua, Jaeger, Beaked Whales, Devil Ray, Hammerhead Sharks and more

Image
     Just a few days after returning from a Bahamas cruise, I headed down to Cape May for a 24-hour pelagic trip aboard the American Star .  We left the dock at nine in the evening to make our way out about 90 miles offshore.  After about an hour I decided to turn in for the rest of the night.  The boat is set up for daytime whale and dolphin watching tours, so there are no real sleeping quarters on board.  I enveloped myself in a sleeping bag on a metal bench on the upper deck.  The bench was only as wide as me, so it was not a comfortable night.  The sea conditions were not bad, but I catnapped through the night ride trying not to roll off the bench.  Around five o’clock, daylight started to break up the night sky and people began emerging from their makeshift beds.  I’m sure those who brought beanbag cushions slept much better than I did.  Either way I survived the night and the day ahead turned out to be well worth the ride...
Read more

Pileated Woodpecker 3/22/23

Image
      According to eBird, there are 400 species of birds on the Ocean County, NJ list.  This lofty number includes vagrants, one-day wonders and historical records (the latter is what I refer to as those that were last seen before the year 2000).  The list also does not include exotic species and escapees.  The list does include a few ghost birds ; birds that I know are around, but they seem to always elude detection.  One such ghost bird in the county is the Pileated Woodpecker.  A few live in the western portion of the county, particularly around New Egypt in Plumsted Township.  Most of the birders around here know where to look for them, but most search attempts are usually futile.  Today, I lucked out.  I went to one of their “known” locations and was able to see one and hear another. Pileated woodpeckers, Fort Mose Historic State Park, St. Augustine, FL (2018).   © S. Weiss The pair in the left photo is of a female (l...
Read more