Whew! For those of you who have been paying attention to the subject of right whales in the news, you know that the past few months have kept researchers on their toes! Let's dive in and get everyone up to speed, first with the Southeast Season. Stay tuned for our Spring season update next!

WINTER (SOUTHEAST) SEASON:

Each winter, pregnant females (along with others) swim to the shallow waters off Florida and Georgia to give birth. To photo-document and to alert mariners to the presence of these particularly vulnerable mother and calf pairs, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Sea To Shore Alliance, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Marineland Florida flew aerial surveys. Additionally, FWC, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Duke University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Florida Atlantic University, and NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center conducted research from vessels. Finally, Marine Resources Council had a team of volunteers searching for right whales from land. Pretty impressive list of teams, right?

Catalog #4094 and her one day old calf swim off the coast of Georgia. Photo: Georgia Department of Natural Resources, taken under NOAA research permit #15488.

This year, the teams documented 14 calves between the first of December and the end of March. The first calves were discovered on December 10th and the last on February 17th. Four of the mothers were first timers including a precocious six-year-old whale, Catalog #4094 (right whales give birth to their first calf on average at 10 years of age; the youngest was five). There were also some older, experienced mothers such as Punctuation (#1281- at least 34 years old, seen with her eighth known calf) and #1233 (at least 42 years old, seen with her sixth calf). Overall, it was a quiet season with only 20 different whales identified (not including the calves) and no young juveniles seen. In the 2000’s, most of the younger juveniles were seen annually in the region, and the total number of whales documented ranged from 150 to 200. Quite a difference!

The general public had the opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of a mother calf right whale without ever squeezing into a tiny plane like observers do, thanks to Clipper (#3450) and her calf’s two-day excursion into the Indian River near Sebastian, FL. In early February the pair made their way into the inner coastal water way where they remained for over 24 hours. Word spread and many people were able to see them from land. When they finally made their way out of the Indian River the following day, some lucky spectators were able to watch from the Sebastian Inlet Bridge as the pair passed under the bridge and back out into the ocean.

Clipper and her calf swim along the bank of the Sebastian Inlet. Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, taken under NOAA research permit #15488.

The joy of seeing young whales born into to the population was tempered by seeing two adult females in very poor health: Cherokee (#3670) and Quatro (#1968). Cherokee, born in 2006 to Piper (#2330), had first been seen with her injuries a year earlier- massive wounds on her head and tail from an entanglement, with a portion of her right lower lip torn off. She was seen in the Southeast just once in December 2015, looking thin and with extensive skin lesions.

Cherokee showing extensive damage to her right lip. Photo: Sea to Shore Alliance, taken under NOAA research permit #15488.

Quatro was born in 1989. We're all quite familiar with her as she is a regular visitor of the major habitats. We were shocked when she was seen in January and February, emaciated and with baleen sticking out of her closed mouth. As there were no gross signs of injury visible, it is unknown what exactly happened to her, though the unusual protrusion of baleen hints that maybe something happened to her jaw or head. Sadly, the prognosis for both whales is poor.

Quatro was last seen on February 23, 2016. Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, taken under NOAA research permit #15488.

On a happier note, many of the mothers and calves successfully made their way to the northern feeding grounds this spring. Look for an update on them and other whales in our next blog.

-Philip Hamilton

As the end of March approaches, the few right whales that remain down on the calving ground off Florida and Georgia begin heading north along the coast to their feeding grounds off Massachusetts. Southern survey teams (FWC, GDNR, the Marineland Right Whale Project, Sea-to-Shore Alliance, UNCW, and others) report a relatively quiet season this year with only 50-60 whales seen and 10 calves documented. Although the number of whales seen the year before was roughly the same, the number of calves this year is half of what was born last year. Sadly, this relatively low calving count was made even smaller by the loss of #1301's calf (read about the unusual history of this whale from this previous blog). Similar to two years ago, #1301's calf looked thin at its last sighting and then #1301 was later seen without it.

Mono (#1321) with her adorable 2014 calf.  Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, taken under NOAA Research Permit #15488.

We hope the remaining calves fair better- many were born to experienced moms such as Naevus (#2040) [pictured above], Mono (#1321) [pictured below], Couplet (#2123), and Boomerang (#2503). You can see photos and sighting histories of these whales and all the others in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog at the Catalog web site.

Three other females that have calved in previous years were seen in the area, but never with a calf. It is possible that they did calve but were simply missed afterwards. We'll be looking for these three up north to see if they have a young one in tow. There were also a few females who have likely reached reproductive age but have not calved previously. One of them, Caterpillar (#3503), had the right whale community concerned. She was named for a large propeller scar on her side that looks like the tracks from a Caterpillar tractor.


Although she has seemed in good health since she received the wound, we were concerned that if she were pregnant and her girth increasing, the wound could further open and become infected. This happened to the right whale Lucky (#2143), proving that even if a right whale survives the initial propeller wounds, those wounds can still cause problems later in life.Caterpillar was only seen once, so we are hoping she made a quick visit to the area and is safely feeding somewhere up north.

We wish this year's calves and their moms a safe migration and eagerly await their arrival on the feeding grounds. You can keep tabs on their progress by going to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center interactive sighting map- if you zoom in on the area near Cape Cod and see the symbol of a small fluke next to a larger fluke- you'll know the mom and calf pairs have arrived!

Philip

Figure 1. Catalog #3945 with its mom, #2145. Calf rolling showing the two bite marks on right flank. Credit: New England Aquarium, Jessica Taylor taken under NOAA research permit # 655-1652-01

Morse (Eg#1608) logging at the surface while her calf swims close by.
Notice the distinctive V-shaped blow from the calf. Photo Taken by Jessica Taylor.

We are so lucky to witness the first months between a mother and her calf. It's a pretty amazing feat for a mother right whale. She travels down here from Northern Atlantic waters off the New England coast, approximately 1500 miles. She fasts the entire time she is in this area, during which she gives birth to an approximate 12 foot, 2,000 pound calf and then starts nursing the calf, which will gain hundreds of pounds weekly! Amazingly she will nurse the calf for the next year or so. What a huge expenditure of energy; no wonder most of the time we see mother/calf pairs the mother appears to be resting!

This is the only known calving ground for this critically endangered species, so this is an incredibly important habitat for them. We are doing our best to keep their calving ground a safe place. When we find them we alert shipping and military interests of their locations so they can actively avoid the whales. Some mothers and calves stay in one place for days, while others have been known to travel several miles in a single day! Stay tuned for a future blog about mother/calf behavior.

In addition to each mother looking different, the 21 mothers have a lot of diversity among them. Of the 21 mothers, there are 3 first time moms and 8 moms that have given birth to 5 or more calves, including this year. Just this weekend we documented Eg#1334 with her eighth known calf! The youngest mother so far this season is 8 years old, and many mothers are over 20 years old! Two of the mothers are whales that you can sponsor, Eg#2223 "Calvin" and Eg#2320 "Piper", as part of the North Atlantic Right Whale Sponsorship Program. You can search for individual whales and get their complete sighting history at the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog.

In addition to these already documented mothers, there have been a number of whales seen in the Southeast U.S. that are potential mothers--they are of calving age and have not had a calf in three years- so stay tuned as this exciting season continues!

~ Kara