Following Gray Whales on an Epic Migration
Following Gray Whales on an Epic Migration
From the birthing lagoons in Baja to the Arctic Sea, these gentle giants capture hearts and inspire “whale huggers.”
Welcome! You’re at Mother E, a newsletter exploring our kinship with nature in a climate-changing world. If you missed the last edition, it’s viewable here: Embodied Sunshine—What Does the Plant World Need from Us?
If this newsletter gets shortened by an email program or the images don’t show, you can read it on the website here.
We have a treat this week. Photographer Shari Goforth shares her whale photos and a few highlights of her trip to Baja California, Mexico to see gray whales in their birthing lagoon. Enjoy! 🐋
Robin A.
SPRING IS CELEBRATED as a time to see baby animals. Some of those babies are big, though. Along the West Coast, newborn North Pacific gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) can weigh up to 2000 pounds at birth and add 60-70 pounds a day after consuming their mother's milk.
These gray whale babies are born in the winter, usually in the warm water lagoons of Baja California. In that protected, whale nursery area, they grow and play for a few months until they are strong enough to swim north with their mother on the planet's longest mammal migration of 10,000-14,000 miles round trip.
Yes, you read that right. These baby gray whales travel 2-3 months and thousands of miles to reach the summer feeding grounds in the Chukchi and Bering Sea in the Arctic. Along the way, they must stay with mom, hide from orca killer whales that hunt them, and avoid other ocean hazards like entangling fishing gear or ship strikes.
You can see a just-born baby gray whale on a Facebook post from Capt. Dave's Dana Point Dolphin & Whale Watching. The mother helps gently support her calf to breathe and swim.
My coastal community is interested in gray whales since we have some of the best ocean-viewing spots in Northern California along the tall cliffs overlooking the Pacific and at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula.
We see the first north migration gray whales in February here, but they leave Baja in waves. April and May are the tail-end wave when the mother-baby pairs are passing by Northern California.
A photographer shares her love of whales
Shari Goforth is a Northern California nature photographer with a background in veterinary science who loves gray whales. She has spent considerable time studying and photographing them, and she provided the wonderful whale photos here. She says, “It gives me focus and purpose.”
Shari is a citizen-science volunteer who has contributed her photos for a whale ID program that uses software similar to facial recognition to identify individual whales from their markings, flukes, or dorsal humps.
Her whale photos have also been used at scientific conferences. Marine biologist Scott Mercer adds, “Her photographic matches of individual whales in two very separate geographic locations add much to our knowledge of gray whale movements throughout the year.”
In addition to her observations in the Mendocino/Sonoma coast area, Shari has traveled north to DePot Bay, Oregon, to Central California's Monterey Bay, and down to Mexico's Baja marine sanctuary of El Vizcaino to see whales. She told me about her recent trip to Baja California’s Laguna San Ignacio in February.
She stayed at the Mexican-run Campo Cortez. Small whale-watching boats, called "pangas," took passengers out into the lagoon. Some boats were for researchers and others took “whale hugger” tourists. They watched for “friendly” whales to approach. If one did, only two boats were allowed near it at a time. The guides sometimes used a "splash call" by pouring water off the boat, similar to patting the water.
Shari described one memorable encounter with a mother-baby (called cow-calf) whale pair. The mother was curious and comfortable around the boats and brought her baby calf over to interact and socialize.
It played with our boat. ..It rolled over next to the boat, opening its mouth. People were petting the baby's chin. It then went from boat to boat.
Shari Goforth
Mother gray whales can be fiercely protective of their baby calves, but she said this mother seemed to trust the people in the boats, and she even swam away from her baby for a few minutes. Was she letting humans babysit?
Shari also mentioned the awe-inspiring size of these 30-40 ton mammals. "Watching whales breach is as interesting as you can get." They can propel upwards, exposing much of a body which could be 45 feet long. Imagine a two-story tall wall of whale breaching near your boat.
There were a number of gray whales in the Baja lagoon. Since that's an adult breeding time, Shari mentioned seeing "lots of tail thrashing" and body parts, such as flukes and "Pink Floyd" whale penises, as they rolled around in the water.
She also spoke of some of the challenges gray whales encounter from orca attacks. Whale researcher and author James Sumich estimated that these orcas, from the dolphin family and also called Biggs killer whales, catch about 30% of the gray whale calves yearly.
Pods of orcas have occasionally been seen attacking adult gray whales too. There are certain places along the migration route, like Monterey Bay, CA. and the Unimak Pass through Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, where gray whales may have to run an orca gauntlet.
The "rake marks" or damage to their flukes and dorsal humps from previous orca attacks is used to identify individual whales.
Gray whales have a unique geographical feeding pattern. The whales visit Baja California in the winter, where they rest, breed, and give birth after a year-long gestation. Here’s a video of them in Baja. Then they migrate to the Arctic for the summer to eat most of their annual food consumption.
Historically, their primary food source has been the rich buffet of tiny amphipod crustaceans living under the sea ice. In the Arctic, a whale can bulk up by eating about 1.3 tons of food daily, filtering through the baleen in its mouth.
They are primarily bottom feeders that consume a wide range of benthic (sea floor) and epibenthic (above the sea floor) invertebrates, such as amphipods. Gray whales suck sediment and food from the sea floor by rolling on their sides and swimming slowly along, filtering their food through 130 to 180 coarse baleen plates on each side of their upper jaw. In doing so, they often leave long trails of mud behind them and "feeding pits" on the seafloor.
Months of fasting before the Arctic feeding feast
Traditionally, the months-long period away from the Arctic is a time of fasting for adult gray whales. So, a mother whale giving birth in January must nurse her calf for months before returning to the Arctic in May or June to eat.
Imagine the tug between hunger and caution. Is her baby calf strong enough to swim 5,000 to 7,000 miles nonstop from Baja to the Arctic? Can she fast that extra time until the calf is ready to travel? It’s a finely tuned decision the mother whale must make.
Recently, observers have seen some whales interrupting their long migration to feed. The state of Washington has a small group of gray whales called "The Sounders" who pause at the Puget Sound to feed off of ghost shrimp for a couple of months before continuing to the Arctic.
Gray whales experiencing a UME
Mendocino County whale experts Scott and Theresa (Tree) Mercer provide marine mammal education through KGUA radio and with presentations at the Noyo Center for Marine Science and conferences. They founded Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study.
The Mercers have been doing a gray whale census for ten years now, logging over 9,000 hours watching the sea with binoculars to monitor whale activity from the cliffs. One thing they learned is that there is a small group of gray whales that occupy the coastal waters off Sonoma and Mendocino Counties all year, not migrating the long distance to the Arctic with the rest of their species.
Scott Mercer spoke on a recent Zoom event about their census and an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) that started in 2019. It has caused whale strandings and a population drop of 38%, from about 26,000 gray whales to around 16,650. Whale deaths have slowed recently and there is hope that the gray whale population will stabilize.
Many of the stranded whales were underweight and malnourished, so the die-off of gray whales is most likely due to reduced food sources in the Arctic from human-caused climate disturbances such as the loss of sea ice.
Here is a NOAA chart on the population of gray whales and calves born from 1994 to 2022, shared by Scott Mercer at a recent presentation.
There is a growing sense of urgency to document and learn more about these whales while there is still time. They are an indicator of ocean health. Their survival is closely intertwined with our ability to protect the atmosphere from overheating and the oceans from further acidification and warming.
The story of the gray whales is one of endurance, drama, and a recovery from near extinction in the last century due to whaling. They now face new challenges from human-caused disturbances. Gray whales have proved themselves resilient, though, so there is hope that if we can stabilize the climate, their food sources will be sufficient.
Meanwhile, those energetic and curious baby whales are starting their first long migration north with their mothers along the U.S. and Canadian coastline. If you have a chance to see this migration, bring your binoculars, sunglasses, and some patience. If you’re lucky, you might get to witness part of the longest mammal migration in the world.
Robin Applegarth
Thanks to local researchers, observers and photographers for vital citizen-science monitoring of whales off California's coast. Your efforts help tell us what’s going on out at sea. 🙏 💙
More whale info
Where to view the gray whale migration.
Did you know? According to the International Monetary Fund, each large whale does its part in stabilizing the climate by sequestering about 33 tons of carbon during its lifetime.
“Meet” individual gray whales and submit photos at IndividuWhale.com
Upload your whale photos at HappyWhale.com. They are looking for clear photos showing a gray whale’s flukes or dorsal hump (backs) or other identifying views of whales.
New “High Seas Treaty” that will establish more Marine Protected Areas.
I like to hear from readers!
Have you viewed whales in their natural environment? How did this change your impressions about whales?
You can comment at the button above, respond to your subscriber email to reach me privately, or reach out on Twitter @RobinApplegarth. If you liked this article, hit the heart ❤️button at the bottom as it helps more people find it. Thank you to readers who have referred Mother E to friends and shared on social media!
Not subscribed yet? Mother E is a free newsletter about our connections to other species in a climate-changing world. Sign up below to have it delivered to your email box every two weeks on Sunday.
"Thanks to local researchers, observers and photographers for vital citizen-science monitoring of whales off California's coast. Your efforts help tell us what’s going on out at sea. 🙏 💙"
That's EXACTLY what I was thinking as I read your essay, and thanks to you Robin for another wonderful read.