We are getting ready to begin our aerial survey field season in the southeastern United States. On December 1, we will be 1000 feet in the air scanning the endless waters off Georgia and Florida's coastline for right whales, especially mothers with their newborn calves! There have already been reports of right whales off the coast of South Carolina by the Wildlife Trust aerial survey team! To follow the whales down to the warmer waters off the east coast U.S. click on the link to our Aerial Survey Blog and don't forget to bookmark! It's sure to be an exciting season!
Right Whale Research Blog
11/23/09
#23: Aerial Survey Starting Soon
We are getting ready to begin our aerial survey field season in the southeastern United States. On December 1, we will be 1000 feet in the air scanning the endless waters off Georgia and Florida's coastline for right whales, especially mothers with their newborn calves! There have already been reports of right whales off the coast of South Carolina by the Wildlife Trust aerial survey team! To follow the whales down to the warmer waters off the east coast U.S. click on the link to our Aerial Survey Blog and don't forget to bookmark! It's sure to be an exciting season!
10/7/09
#22: End of the Season
Our field season in the Bay of Fundy has ended. It was a demanding and exciting season this year with all sorts of media coverage, interesting whales, and unusual whale distributions. We had a few of different research vessels on the water this season and were able to cover a large area of the Bay of Fundy and Roseway Basin.
The r/v Nereid went out 23 times and the r/v Callisto was able to get out 7 times, both surveying the Bay of Fundy. During the last week of August into early September, a few members of our team set out to Novia Scotia for a 10-day long survey of the Roseway Basin Area To Be Avoided. The last time a thorough population survey was conducted in Roseway Basin was in 2006. We were able to document 20 of the 39 mother and calf pairs this season and so far we have identified 141 right whales in the Bay of Fundy and approximately 40 more in Roseway Basin. These numbers will be sure to grow once the data is fully processed.
The r/v Nereid went out 23 times and the r/v Callisto was able to get out 7 times, both surveying the Bay of Fundy. During the last week of August into early September, a few members of our team set out to Novia Scotia for a 10-day long survey of the Roseway Basin Area To Be Avoided. The last time a thorough population survey was conducted in Roseway Basin was in 2006. We were able to document 20 of the 39 mother and calf pairs this season and so far we have identified 141 right whales in the Bay of Fundy and approximately 40 more in Roseway Basin. These numbers will be sure to grow once the data is fully processed.
In August, a story ran on the front page of the Bangor Daily News about our research. The story ran on their website with a great video displaying a typical day as a right whale researcher. In September, Chris Corday from the Canadian Broadcasting Center came to video interview our team for a spot on the CBC's The National.
We saw a number of interesting whales as well, one in particular, Pico (#3270), who swam to the Azores last January. It is usual to have a right whale sighting in the eastern Atlantic and we were all curious if we would see Pico again. Pico is an example of how right whales can and do travel outside of their typical migration route along the east coast of the United States and Canada. Other interesting whales sighted in the bay were Ruffian (#3530), who, last January, sustained injuries all over his head and body on his migration to the southeast habitat, and Calvin (#2223) and her calf who were sighted once in the calving grounds this past winter and not again until September.
Right whale distributions were noticeably different this year compared to previous years. Right whales sightings near the wolves (a chain of islands miles north of the usual habitat) we last recorded during the early 1980s. That's 30 years ago!
The weather turned foul during the last week of the field season so we packed up the research station and headed south back to Boston. We are always sad to leave the bay knowing that whales are still in the bay, but this year find some closure knowing that foul weather continues to haunt the bay.
Now back in Boston, we have to prepare for the Biennial Marine Mammal Conference in Quebec City, the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium and the Southeast field season in Fernandina Beach, FL starting December 1st.
9/28/09
#21: A Season of Unusual Sightings
As our season is winding down, we've been thinking about some of the unusual sightings we've had over the past couple months. We've mentioned some of them in earlier blog entries, like the unprecedented number of right whales off The Wolves (the island chain many miles north of the usual habitat) and the crazy cloud we saw in early September. But there have been other things that have caught our attention and made us wonder: What's going on this year?
One of the avian species we see every year are puffins, the cute football shaped black birds with the colorful striped beaks. Typically we only see four or five on any given day, but this year was a different story. Nearly every day we were out this season we had lots of puffins--puffins alone, in pairs or trios and occasionally in flocks of 8-12! And in late August we even had a rare sighting of an albino puffin! Why all the puffins? We have no idea, but we've certainly had fun watching them.
There were two other bird species that seemed much more prevalent this year than in the past: Northern Fulmars and Jaegers. Fulmars are usually found offshore, so the number of sightings we've had is surprising. What's great about fulmars is that they always seem a little curious about us. They literally turn their heads to check us out as they fly by.
Jaegers are aggressive seabirds that engage in kleptoparasitism--harassing other birds to force them to drop food they are carrying. As with puffins and fulmars, we've had a bumper crop this year. Find out more about all three of these interesting seabirds here.
The Bay was hopping with Bluefin tuna, especially in September. It's always exciting to see schools of these magnificent fish leaping out of the water as they pursue their unlucky prey.
In addition to the birds in the Bay of Fundy, we've also had an influx of humpback whales in areas that are usually the exclusive domain of right whales. It's not that humpbacks aren't seen in the Bay, they are, but they tend to aggregate further to the south and east. In years past, a big humpback count would be three in one day, but on a recent trip we counted 15! One of the humpbacks spent several minutes flippering, i.e. slapping it's long (12')pectoral fin against the water. Quite a bizarre sight when you're used to the black , paddle-shaped and comparatively stubby flippers of the right whale. The latin name for humpbacks is Megaptera novaeangliae, which means "big-winged New Englander"... it's easy to see why it got that name!
All of these species are not uncommon in the Bay of Fundy, but what has been interesting is the number of them. Why are so many humpbacks, fulmars, jaegers, puffins and tuna in the Bay this year? And could there be any correlation with the right whales' unusual northerly distribution, not seen in 30 years? Nature, as always, holds puzzles that we have yet to figure out.
To see more photos of unusual species we saw this season click here.
Photo Captions:
2) A fulmar checks us out as it flies by the boat
3) A parasitic jaeger looking for trouble
4) T he back half of a leaping tuna
One of the avian species we see every year are puffins, the cute football shaped black birds with the colorful striped beaks. Typically we only see four or five on any given day, but this year was a different story. Nearly every day we were out this season we had lots of puffins--puffins alone, in pairs or trios and occasionally in flocks of 8-12! And in late August we even had a rare sighting of an albino puffin! Why all the puffins? We have no idea, but we've certainly had fun watching them.
There were two other bird species that seemed much more prevalent this year than in the past: Northern Fulmars and Jaegers. Fulmars are usually found offshore, so the number of sightings we've had is surprising. What's great about fulmars is that they always seem a little curious about us. They literally turn their heads to check us out as they fly by.
Jaegers are aggressive seabirds that engage in kleptoparasitism--harassing other birds to force them to drop food they are carrying. As with puffins and fulmars, we've had a bumper crop this year. Find out more about all three of these interesting seabirds here.
The Bay was hopping with Bluefin tuna, especially in September. It's always exciting to see schools of these magnificent fish leaping out of the water as they pursue their unlucky prey.
In addition to the birds in the Bay of Fundy, we've also had an influx of humpback whales in areas that are usually the exclusive domain of right whales. It's not that humpbacks aren't seen in the Bay, they are, but they tend to aggregate further to the south and east. In years past, a big humpback count would be three in one day, but on a recent trip we counted 15! One of the humpbacks spent several minutes flippering, i.e. slapping it's long (12')pectoral fin against the water. Quite a bizarre sight when you're used to the black , paddle-shaped and comparatively stubby flippers of the right whale. The latin name for humpbacks is Megaptera novaeangliae, which means "big-winged New Englander"... it's easy to see why it got that name!
All of these species are not uncommon in the Bay of Fundy, but what has been interesting is the number of them. Why are so many humpbacks, fulmars, jaegers, puffins and tuna in the Bay this year? And could there be any correlation with the right whales' unusual northerly distribution, not seen in 30 years? Nature, as always, holds puzzles that we have yet to figure out.
To see more photos of unusual species we saw this season click here.
Photo Captions:
1) An albino puffin in the Bay of Fundy
3) A parasitic jaeger looking for trouble
4) T he back half of a leaping tuna
5) A humpback whale waves it's long flipper in the air
9/27/09
#20: Other Species Seen on Roseway Basin
In addition to North Atlantic right whales, we were lucky to see several other species of marine mammals, fish and birds during our trip to Roseway Basin. Following is a short list of some of the different species of animals seen:
-Yan
Fin whale, Sei whale, Humpback whale, Minke whale, Pilot whale, Killer whale, Common dolphin, White-sided dolphin, Harbor porpoise, Mola-mola (Sunfish), Basking shark, Blue shark, Tuna, Northern Gannet, Greater shearwater, Wilson storm petrel, Leech's storm petrel, Northern fulmar, Pomerine jaeger, Parasitic jaeger, Black backed gull, Herring gull, Atlantic puffin, Phalaropes.
From left: mola mola (sunfish) and common dolphin
Check out a similar slide show from this season's Aerial survey blog here.
-Yan
9/25/09
#19: The Right Whale Team on CBC News
North Atlantic right whales were a feature story on the CBC this week. The story features some great footage of whales in Surface Active Groups and diving. There are also some interview clips of our Canadian team members, Moira and Yan.
Click here to watch the news story.
Click here to watch the news story.
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The New England Aquarium is part of a massive collaborative effort to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from ship strikes, gear entanglements and other threats. All work conducted and images collected in US waters are under scientific permit from NMFS. All right whale research conducted in Canadian waters are under scientific permit from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
2015 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2014 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2013 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2012 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2011 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2010-2011 Jordan Basin Expedition (first post)
2010 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2009-2010 Aerial Survey Season (first post)
2009 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2008-2009 Aerial Survey Season (first post)
2008 Bay of Fundy Season (first post)
2007-2008 Aerial Survey Season (first post)
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