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Wildlife
Reports
Whales of 2003
by Dave Snow
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The spring of 2003 started with
reports of two curious narwhals swimming among the icebergs near St.
John's. Soon these were joined by huge numbers of humpbacks that
appeared to arrive in early June. From June to August, our tour
participants reported excellent numbers of fin whales, minkes, and
humpbacks (we have the world's largest gathering of these playful
acrobats). It was also a wonderful year for spotting whale calves.
It is unusual to see young fin or minke whales but this year there
were obvious calves in the company of adults. The humpbacks had an
especially good year as most of our Wildlife Adventures and all of
our Whale Study guests had up close encounters with curious calves.
We were fortunate to get some great tail photos which are used for
identification and censusing purposes. The mother and calf photos
are especially useful, and we thank everybody who has submitted
their photos to us. It was also a great year for spotting dolphins
on our Viking Trail holidays. The
seabirds appeared to have an excellent summer as our leaders
reported the most fledgling kittiwakes seen since the 1980s.
This year long-time repeat guest
Arlene Ervin spent two weeks volunteering with Allied Whale, the
folks who coordinate the global census of humpbacks. She found that
one of our 2001 Whale Study Week humpbacks had not been seen since
1986. Arlene found another Newfoundland humpback, which was
documented 30 years after its last photograph. Despite being the
best place in the world to view humpbacks, very little census work
is done here — other than our own Whale Study Weeks. Arlene's
findings generated so much excitement that she became the first
person to book on to our new 2004
Southern Labrador Adventure holiday.
There were fewer rare whales spotted
in 2003. Orca sightings were at a third of the 2002 level with our
last sighting on November 1. Dan Hickey and one of his groups
spotted a sei whale. Several folks reported single beluga whales,
but none appeared to take up residence. The summer's best news came
from the Terra Nova area and Newfoundland's south coast where our
groups spotted more harbour porpoises than ever before (12 on one
crossing to St. Pierre). The population of these endangered little
dolphins appears to be recovering.
For 2004 we are increasing our
efforts at documenting the numbers of whales found in northern
Newfoundland and southern Labrador. Whale and iceberg enthusiasts
are encouraged to check out our new Southern Labrador Adventure holiday. |
