Mother and Calf Gray Whales

Santa Cruz Whale Watching was contacted by a visitor who spotted a whale between the harbor and the wharf around 9:45 am on Friday, May 7, 2010. The caller was concerned as this animal was in very shallow waters right off of the beach. Santa Cruz Whale Watching was currently boarding for a whale watch trip and headed towards the reported whale to asses the situation. Team members on land found the animal and directed the boat towards what looked like a feeding whale. Upon further assessment we were able to see that there was a single whale feeding in the kelp and appeared not distressed in any way. Gray Whales traveling north back to their feeding grounds in the Bering Sea tend to stop and opportunistically feed along the way. Feeding in the kelp off of Santa Cruz has been a behavior observed by captain and business owner Ken Stagnaro for the last 5 years, sometimes with animals staying for two weeks. After assessing that the single whale was simply feeding the Velocity headed east along the coast finding the mother calf pair at the harbor mouth traveling close to shore northbound. They then traveled with this pair for a little while along the coast. Mother calf pairs traveling close to shore at this time of the year is another normal behavior. An experienced mother will do this to protect her calf from predators i.e. Orca or Killer Whales, which happened to be in the bay at the time of this sighting. The mother calf pair showed normal signs of snorkeling which is a behavior of quite and light breathing to sneak around the Orca. This is the 6th reported sighting of mother calf pairs in the bay since March. Typically the season of the northbound migration is February through May.
While numbers in past years may have been higher we are still seeing animals. The Monterey Bay is a central feeding hub of over 27 different marine mammals and hundreds of pelagic birds. We have whales year round and go out for whales year round with sightings of 98%. While animals may be changing travel patterns we still do find them and we are adjusting to their change. The Gray whales travel through our area 6 months and the Humpback Whales stay here 8 months of the year.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Gray whale
• mother
• calf
• santa cruz
• santa cruz wharf
• whale
• velocity
• santa cruz whale watch