Animal Updates | Mammals | Conservation | Education | Whale Watching

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Julien

We kicked off our July with spectacular whale sightings and it has only been getting better! We have been seeing at least three blue whales per trip and even fin whales and minkes as well! In the month of July we had NINTEY-FOUR blue whale sightings alone!

Lunge feeding at the surface of the water has been a consistent behavior that guests on board have been lucky enough to witness. If the krill is at the surface, these whales will sometimes feed on the 8,000 pounds of krill they need to survive daily right in view of guests on board. This type of feeding has been giving the guests a unique opportunity to see more of the whale than just the back breaking the surface. The whale will roll into its side exposing its pectoral flippers, eyes, pleated throat, and even sometimes their hairy baleen that sieves out the water!

Many of the blues we see have very different personalities and behaviors, and look very different too! It becomes easy to differentiate between individuals after you have been out there for a couple of years. Our photo ID interns have their work cut out for them while they are on board taking photos of the back side and the flukes of these whales. Yet, some whales have very unique physiological characteristics like nicked dorsal fins and even possible birth defects or old ship strike wounds around their massive bodies. Their goals are to find matches of blues who have been coming here year after year to feed.

Not only have we been having incredible blue and fin whale action almost daily, we have been able to spot animals in the open ocean that we rarely get to see. Elephant seals passing by and checking out the boat, green sea turtles taking breathes of air before they continue on their way, and TWO more great white shark sightings within the last three weeks! The great whites have been sighted lately more than they ever have and our boat programs coordinator, Kera Mathes, was fortunate enough to see what all Nat Geo lovers have always wanted to see in front of their eyes; these predators in action. On this day, Kera witnessed a 16 foot great white shark predating on a California sea lion which is one of their favorite foods. Great whites are the largest of all the top predatory sharks and the record length of these sharks ever recorded was 22 feet long! Similarly to last month, it seems that the increased sightings could be related to the pupping season the females partake around Santa Monica and Malibu.

We have also had very frequent sightings of toothed whale species like common, bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins. Come on out to see the largest animals on earth feeding on some of the smallest with the lovely summer weather we have been having in Long Beach!

<< Back

Volunteering

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Hugh

And aerial view of the Aquarium of the Pacific in 2000

Back at the turn of the century I took some aerial shots of the Aquarium of the Pacific. These images show the young facility in its original configuration.

Back in the year 2000, Tony, then an Aquarium aquarist and pilot, and I, took a flight over the Aquarium during the Long Beach Grand Prix. We were on our way to do an informal cetacean survey over the San Pedro Channel but took the opportunity to circle the Aquarium of the Pacific in a Cessna to get some aerial shots of the then two year old facility. Years later these images afford an opportunity to see what the Aquarium was like before Shark Lagoon, Lorikeet Forest, the restaurants of Rainbow Harbor and the Pike were built.

<< Back

Animal Updates | Mammals | Volunteering

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Hugh

The marine mammals of Alaska's Inside Passage

Most people on a cruise ship spend their time partaking in the many party-like activities onboard. My wife and I however spent our time at sea watching for whales. It turned out to be an exciting choice. This week’s blog chronicles the marine mammals seen on a cruise to Alaska’s Inside Passage.

Celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary my wife Pam and I decided to do what we love the most, watching marine mammals. But this time it would be from an Alaska-bound cruise ship. So along with the usual travel necessities we also packed along a powerful pair of binoculars. This trip meant taking time off from my volunteer shifts at the Aquarium but I think Parker the Sea Lion and Ollie the Sea Otter would understand.

On the first day we were surprised to see dozens of harbor porpoises popping up all along the Puget Sounds. Far from being the shy elusive creature that I had seen and read about. These small cetaceans were showing up in pods of three to a dozen all along the track of our cruise ship as she left Seattle.

The second day found our cruise ship in the open ocean off Canada’s West Coast. I had sprung for a patio cabin to facilitate watching for whales. This allowed us to spring out of bed at the crack of dawn and immediately start looking for whales and keep doing so until sunset with a couple of room service breaks in-between. On this day we spotted hundreds of Dall’s Porpoises. These black and white cetaceans have a habit of accelerating quickly while barely under the surface of the water. Their powerful flukes produce a line of spray that is called a “rooster tail” by long time marine mammal observers for the shape it makes behind the porpoise. These Dall’s Porpoise were almost a constant escort for our vessel that day. We also spotted dozens of humpback whales, a pair of Minke whales and a couple of Northern fur seals. These fur seals were easy to identify because of their long rear flippers and long handlebar shaped whiskers on their snouts. They also lounged in the water with the end of one of their front flippers touching the end of one of their rear flippers in the air forming a jug handle shape.

Our first port of call was in Juneau, Alaska. So what shore excursion did we do in port? Whale watching of course. Driven to a small inlet North of the city we boarded a small catamaran to explore the small islands around the area. We came across a humpback whale with a small calf. Humpback whales come to the waters of Alaska to feed during the summer. The young calf we were watching was weaned and attempting to lunge feed like the older whales. It would swim just under the surface, open its mouth to take in a mouthful of prey and then expel the excess water through its baleen. One of the more exciting moments was when one of the Humpbacks breached out of the water. The naturalist on board said that the whales in this area don’t breach twice in a row so most of the folks on the boat put their cameras down. I however kept my camera up. Working around marine mammals for so many years I knew that you can never 100 percent predict what an independent minded animal will do. So when the whale breached a second time I was the only one that got a shot of the whale in the air. From the cruise ship, both entering and exiting the port we caught glimpses of Stellar sea lions.

The second port of call was Skagway. Although we didn’t see any marine mammals in the port we did see mountain goats and a black bear and cub while on a round trip train ride up to the Canadian border at White Pass. We also were dive-bombed by angry Arctic terns when we accidentally got too close to a nesting area near the Skagway heliport.

The third day saw the cruise ship entering the Tracy Arm Fjord to encounter the glacier there. Recently born harbor seal pups and their moms were resting on the smaller iceberg as we neared the glacier. There is speculation that the seals have their pups there because all the ice in the fjord confuses the echolocation abilities of killer whales. The glacier itself was also calving. Chunks of ice were splitting from the wall of ice to become icebergs. As awesome it was to watch, the sound of a glacier calving was one of the most primordial sound a human could experience. An eerie low rumble that you hear and feel. After we exited the fjord we discovered one of the possible reasons the seals chose the fjord to hang out. A lone male killer whale was tail lobbing and flipper slapping the water. This particular orca was unique in that the very tip of his tall dorsal fin flopped to its left and his fluke had a extreme downward sag on both ends. Looking through a catalog of Alaskan killer whales the only animal I could find that matched this whale was one known as AE-18 also known as Lethcoe. However the catalog stated that the pod that this whale belongs to usually hangs out in Prince Williams Sound. A lot further north of where we were.

The fourth day and our third port of call was Ketchikan. We took a small R.I.B. (rigid hull inflatable boat) out to the calm inlet around the town to look for harbor seals, bears, eagles and deer which we did encounter. We also came upon a pod of killer whales. The pod consisted of two cow/calf pairs and a single female. One of the whales had a distinct tear drop shaped white patch in front of the left side of its dorsal fin which I haven’t been able to find a match for yet in the killer whale catalogs I’ve looked at. I wasn’t expecting orcas on this excursion so this encounter was an added treat.

The fifth and sixth day saw us back on the open ocean headed south. Along with Stellar sea lions we again encountered dozens of humpback whales. However, unlike the first day at sea these whales were quite often seen breaching and flipper slapping the water.

When we finally returned to Seattle our final list of critters seen on our cruise to Alaska included:

• Humpback whales
• Dall’s orpoises
• Minke whales
• Harbor porpoises
• Killer whales
• Stellar sea lions
• Harbor seals
• California sea lions
• Bald bagles
• Brown bears
• Black bears
• Mountain goats
• Sitka black-tailed deer

Not a bad way to spend a second honeymoon.

<< Back

Animal Updates | Mammals | Conservation | Education | Whale Watching

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Julien

June was a fun month on the boat with each day being more unpredictable than the next. Some of the highlights of the last month have been sightings of massive sunfish and even a juvenile great white shark! More and more days have been filled with dolphins, sea lions, blues, fins, minkes and warm weather.

Presently, the blues and fins seem to be slowly headed our way. We’ve had a few sightings the last week and are hopeful they will continue to increase. As soon as the krill really starts to bloom, the whales will be here! These animals need to eat 8,000 pounds of krill a day, so they will follow wherever their food source leads them. Yet we are still hopeful that our peak season will still be full of feeding blues and maybe some accompanying humpbacks come mid July through September. We are getting so close to that time!

HUGE mola molas (ocean sunfish), four to five hundred pounds at least, have been spotted floating at the surface of the water in random areas. Seeing something that round and large on the surface of the water while we are traveling is always a good reason to stop the boat! Sunfish will lie on their sides to allow seabirds to pick off their parasites and will also occasionally breach out of the water, probably for a similar reason. They will also absorb the sunlight to recharge themselves before they descend back into the depths where they spend most of their lives feeding on sea jellies.

The biggest surprise occurred on June 26th, when our boat happened upon five blue whales AND a juvenile great white shark cruising the surface. In May we were lucky enough to spot a basking shark feeding on plankton at the surface, but this was an incredible sighting indeed! Great whites are local species of sharks, but spend a large majority of their lives hunting and cruising at depths where we cannot see them from the surface. Not many people know that around Santa Monica and Malibu there is a pupping ground for the females which makes So Cal a hub for young whites. This shark was about 10-12 feet and did not mind the presence of the boat! What a sighting!

Dolphins have also been spotted on almost every trip as well; Risso’s, commons and bottlenose! So, come on out on an unexpected adventure and even ride the brand new 83 ft. catamaran the Triumphant for a fast smooth trip! See you there!

<< Back

Animal Updates | Birds | Mammals | Penguins | Sharks | Turtles | Volunteering

Thursday, June 06, 2013

Hugh

The first week of June marks my 15th year of volunteering at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Later this month the Aquarium celebrates the 15th Anniversary of its Grand Opening. So to commemorate both occasions, in no particular order, I’d like to share 15 of my favorite memories of the Aquarium of the Pacific over the years.

1. Teaching a blind seal to retrieve. One of the proudest moments I’ve had at the Aquarium was helping Ellie the Harbor Seal relearn how to do one of her favorite behaviors.
2. Swimming with sea lions. As an enrichment session for the sea lions some of the volunteers and staff use to don snorkeling gear and swim in the exhibit with them. Imagine floating face down in the water while a sea lion is floating face up looking at you. Yes it was cool!
3. Huggable seals. One of the behaviors I taught Shelby the Harbor Seal was something I like to call Hug-a-Seal. The huggable and loveable Shelby will sit by you and allow an arm around her back for a photo op. It actually turned out to be a nice behavior to use during Shelby’s pregnancies as it allowed staff to more fully check out her body during that time.
4. Raising the Furball. Gidget was the very first Southern Sea Otter that I ever helped raise. She was an older pup when she became orphaned. Because of that she had a lot of traits of a wild critter and taught me a lot about otter behavior. It was a proud moment for me when my little furball was chosen to be a surrogate mother to other orphan sea otter pups up in Monterey. The goal being to eventually return these pups to the wild.
5. Raising Ollie the Sea Otter. Whereas Gidget was an older pup when orphaned, Ollie was quite young when she lost her mom. She was much more dependent on people during her early days at the Aquarium. She insisted on being right next to you when she would take her naps. If you moved away she would cry until she was by you again. She’s the most free spirited animal I’ve ever met.
6. Researching Urban Sea Turtles. I once thought that the stretch of the San Gabriel River which runs between Los Angeles and Orange County near Long Beach was merely a lifeless conveyor of urban runoff. Then my wife and I started collecting field notes on the Green Sea Turtles of the river for the Aquarium. It turns out the river is alive with a huge variety of animals. There are not only endangered sea turtles that are drawn to this stretch of water due to the warm effluents of the electrical power plants that line the banks. There are also Ospreys, Coyotes, Butterfly Rays, swimming Gopher Snakes, Peregrine Falcons, swimming Ground Squirrels and even an occasional Dolphin and Sea Lion.
7. Fin Whale Rescue. Back in 2003 the Aquarium hosted the International Marine Animal Trainers Association convention in Long Beach. While attending this event I was called off to the side and asked to help check out a possible cetacean stranding at Sunset Beach, a few miles down the coast. I ended up spending 4 hours in the surf with a beached baby fin whale. Later a whole cadre of Aquarium of the Pacific staffers arrived like the cavalry to reinforce our efforts to save the whale.
8. Avery the Penguin. Who knew that a young Magellanic Penguin who came ashore distressed in Rio and needed a home would become one of my favorite critters at the Aquarium? I used to hang out with Avery while he was in the treatment area of the Aquarium’s behind the scenes holding pad. Today he is one of the stars of the June Keyes Penguin Exhibit.
9. Petting a Porcupine. The program animals are the hidden gems of the Aquarium. Lola the cockatoo is one of the main ambassadors to the public while Orion the Kestrel and Tito the prehensile-tailed porcupine help educated guests during in person animal presentations. One of the more unusual experiences I’ve had was learning how to pet a porcupine. Front to back. Always front to back.
10. Topaz the Aquarium Cat. Topaz is longest tenure staffer at the Aquarium. He is also my greeter before every shift.
11. Watching Parker the sea lion grow up. I’ve had the joy of watching Parker the Sea Lion grow from a scrawny little pup to a massive and impressive 800 pound adult.
12. The Aquarium Staff. As much as I’ve enjoyed my interaction with the animals of the Aquarium I’ve enjoyed my interaction with the staff over the years even more. I especially enjoy working with the dry siders like Anitza and Cecile in the Communications department, Marilyn in PR and our CEO Jerry Schubel. They help keep the overall view of operations at the Aquarium in order and allow the rest of us to concentrate on our individual jobs and responsibilities.
13. The Guests. Because of the Aquarium I’ve met people from all over the world over the years. Hollywood celebrities, families on vacation, foreign dignitaries, you never knew who you might run into during a shift. I know that I’ve grown as a person just from interacting with the many visitors to the Aquarium.
14. Milo-cam and iPad playing penguins. I appreciate that the staff allows me to explore some of my outside the box ideas when it comes to my volunteer shift. Like allowing me to build a camera rig for Milo the Sea Lion to take underwater or using an iPad as a penguin enrichment toy. Or even using video special effects to turn Brook the Sea Otter in “Darth Otter”.
15. Shark Cage Trip. One of the most poignant moments I had with the Aquarium was an Aquarium sponsored shark cage trip to Catalina Island in 2001 right after 9/11. As I snorkeled in the shark cage while a small Mako and blue sharks swam around us I couldn’t help but notice that there were no other civilian boats in sight. There were also no aircraft in the air. It was an eerie feeling that day. Later a Navy S-3 Viking patrol jet flew overhead and a Peary Class frigate appeared on the horizon, a missile loaded on its launcher. I also knew that over the horizon the aircraft carrier USS Stennis was patrolling the waters for hostiles. Earlier that year I had spent time training some of their crewmen at North Island. I knew that they had made an emergency deployment to protect the coast due to the events of that week. It was actually kind of comforting to see them out there with us.

<< Back