Whale Watching | Mammals
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Kera
Just last week we had our very first blue whale sighting for the season! It was almost a year ago exactly that we saw our first blue last year. Typically the blue whales don’t really get here until the summertime. So what is this one blue doing here? Read on to find out what we think.
Blue whales are a type of baleen whale. This means they don’t have any teeth at all, but instead have something like hair in their mouth that they use to filter out krill with. Krill is a small, shrimp-like, animal. Blue whales can eat up to 8,000 lbs of krill a day, or roughly 40 million krill!! Because it’s so much, they have to travel to a place where there is A LOT of krill.
It just so happens that Southern California has a large abundance of krill in the summertime. Now even though it’s not summertime yet, it seems that maybe the blue whales are sending out a scout, so to speak, to check out the area. As I mentioned, the same thing happened last year. We had one blue whale come and hang out for a few weeks, and then in late May and early June, the first blues started trickling in for the summer. It seems that they’re getting here earlier and earlier each year. The first blue this year was seen on April 8, 2010, and the one last year was seen on April 22, 2009. I wonder if they’ll be even earlier in really arriving in a couple of months?!?
Although I’m not sure how abundant the krill is here, I know it must be a good amount so far because in the last few weeks the fin whales have also returned. Fin whales are the second largest animal in the world. Second to the blue whale that is. We see both types of whales out here feeding on the krill. Last week alone, in one trip there were five fin whales and one blue whale seen on one trip!
If you’re interested in joining us on our fantastic whale watching, now is a great time. The fins are here feeding all over and our first blue has arrived. Hopefully the blue whale finds what it’s looking for and bellows out that loud call so all the blue whales know it’s time to head to Southern California for the summer!
Your Comments
hazel bellak
Friday, June 04, 2010 08:04 AM
Talking of the earlier arrival, is it because of a shortage of krill? I noticed adverts lately on TV for an Omega product that is from Krill. Is it being harvested for medicines ?
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Friday, June 11, 2010 01:01 PM
Hi Hazel! That’s a great question! As far as I know, the krill is going to be harvested from the Arctic. The blue whales haven’t made it up that far in a very long time, since pre-whaling actually. It’s hard to know for sure what is driving the blue whales here early, but it could also be that the krill here is becoming more abundant earlier in the season. I’ll have to check in officially with some blue whale experts and see what they say. I’ll get back to you with more information soon.
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