It has been a fitting final week of flights in our trusty Skymaster. We are having fewer and fewer sightings of right whales, which is a good thing. Mothers are slowly ushering their calves out of these shallow waters, now that they are big enough to make the long journey back home. This sighting of #2642 and her robust calf on the 26th of March is surely one of the last before researchers see the pair again, hopefully unscathed by the obstacles that they may face between these southeast calving grounds and the Bay of Fundy.

It is awesome to be witness to the transitions throughout the season. On our final days of flight the oceans were bursting with life, and we even saw 9 massive leatherback turtles in one survey, the dark ridges on their shells obvious from 1000 feet in the air. I saw some amazing things this season that I probably won't see again, like an enormous great white shark moseying along and an alligator more than 20 miles from shore, but I think my most meaningful experience was when I was part of a special opportunity to mitigate ship strikes while Suzie and I circled above a whale and her new calf who had decided to hang out in the Jacksonville shipping channel. It's wonderfully energizing not only to protect such a critically endangered species with the immediacy of watching a ship maneuver to avoid the whales, but also to see this incredible system that has been set up to protect these whales work. Before coming to the southeast, I was unaware of the extent to which so many people will willingly put forth all their efforts to protect a special species. My work here has given me a new optimism about the future of the oceans.

Thanks for reading! -Kelly

Please rememember that we will be back and Blogging during our summer field season in the Bay of Fundy in August.

Cownose rays (aka: cowfish and skeete) get their name because of their squared, indented snout that resembles a cow’s nose. Their wingspan can reach up to 3 feet in length and they can weigh up to 50 pounds. Their distribution includes a large part of the western Atlantic (from New England to Florida), the Gulf of Mexico, and they can migrate as far south as Brazil. As migratory animals, it is believed that they move north in the spring and south in the fall in the Atlantic. So, perhaps the rays that we saw on the first day of spring were heading north. Based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status, cownose rays are listed as "near-threatened". This means that although they do not qualify for "threatened" status, they could be considered threatened in the near future and the population should be re-evaluated regularly.

-Karen

Learn how divers care for the cownose rays in the Giant Ocean Tank at the Aquarium! And here is an interesting video of the Aquarium's cownose ray swimming in the GOT.

As the right whale season draws to a close, things have quieted down a little bit in the waters off of Jacksonville where we fly our Central EWS surveys. It's regrettable to see the whales begin to leave, but it's the way it should be: we wouldn't want a lot of whales hanging around when there's no one here anymore to locate them for vessel traffic.

Interestingly, the sparse sightings we have been seeing over the past few days have been largely mother-calf pairs. In fact, for the past five days we have seen different mother-calf pairs each day! It's as if the mothers are marching through our survey area on their way back north-- like moms on parade. I think the whole team has enjoyed seeing all the mothers we've been watching throughout the season, as they're such a crucial indicator of the health of this population. We have been able to watch the calves grow from tiny gray squirts into strapping, strong youngsters who look plenty fit enough to survive the migration north and their first summer on the feeding grounds.



However, we still don't have a final count on just how many new North Atlantic right whales have taken their place in the population this season. In the past couple days we have had two brand new mothers, bringing the current count up to 18. This great number gives good riddance to any worries about the productivity of the calving season we might have been harboring at the beginning of the year, when new moms appeared few and far between.














When I return north and visit the waters of Cape Cod Bay in two weeks, I'll be very excited to see if any new mothers show up that we didn't happen to see here on the calving grounds. But more thrilling will be to rendevous with the mothers and calves I saw in the southeastern U.S. once they reach the other end of their journey. I hope I find them healthy and thriving!

Photos credited to: New England Aquarium; Suzie Hanlan.

-Kelly