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Wildlife
Reports
Whales of 2001
by Dave Snow
It was an amazing year for whales. Our
first 2001 visit to Labrador had our guests witness the spectacle of
an orca in hot pursuit of a minke whale. While we didn't get to
photograph that fast-moving episode, our luck was excellent for the
rest of the year. Our Whale Study Week and Wildlife Adventure guests
contributed more useful whale tail photos to the world-wide humpback
census than ever before. We enjoyed wonderful weather, great
photographic conditions, and some amazing beach-side shows featuring
the most frequent and best photographed lunge feeding displays in over
a decade. We also saw dozens of frisky humpback calves, some breaching
minke whales, several curious fin whales, and later in the year,
groups of up to 150 dolphins.
A young beluga added delight to our
later Viking Trail Experience holidays. This wild beluga, following a
dolphin-family tradition that has been documented for over 3,000 years,
approached several dozen of our guests over the late summer and fall.
For at least three years, this little white whale has evaded the orcas we
are continuing to see along the coast. We are hoping for more visits
with "Lenny" in 2002!
We continue to document local orca
populations and in 2001 we became aware of two new coastal areas that
were occupied by orcas for periods of up to several months. This
seasonal residency by killer whales has never been reported in this
part of the world; and we will be attempting to census the whales and
document this phenomenon during 2002. Check out our Orca Expedition
literature for more information.
Our staff members have been studying
the province's whales since 1979. Every year is unique and gives us
more to ponder. In 2001, we found that the dolphins were
"late" and waited until August before joining our boats near
St. John's. This was also a year when harbour porpoises proved to be
rare but the bigger whales and dolphins were putting on such a show
that most folks put very little effort into looking for them. While
the past few years have featured encouraging reports of increased
harbour porpoise abundance, our smallest member of the whale family is
still an endangered species. Our only rare whale sighting of 2001 was
a Sowerby's beaked whale. Very little is known about the abundance and
life history of this deep-diving, squid eating animal. It was also a
great year for bird watching and sightseeing all around Newfoundland
and Labrador. Several holidays generated interesting trip lists of
whales, birds, butterflies, rare plants, and rare animals. The rare
animals included basking sharks, several sturgeons, sea turtles,
several vagrant songbirds, the first northern wheatear ever recorded
nesting in Newfoundland (our Kim Coffin was the first person in
Newfoundland to spot this one!), an albatross, and several sunfish.
We continue to coordinate the
Newfoundland and Labrador portion of the global census of humpback
whales. This is a big job since our area is home to the planet's
largest feeding gathering of humpbacks. In addition, we also pass
along other wildlife reports and sighting to the appropriate research
organizations. We continue to welcome all photos and stories. They
make our day!
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