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SUMMER

Humpback ID# 10059--- Summer ­(summer sighting)

This animal, a female, was first identified on 15 August 1986. Since then, she has been seen almost every year for a total of 24 times including once, in 1995, with a calf. She was seen most often in the Gulf of the Farallones, although sightings of this whale have also come from the Santa Barbara Channel, and one from as far away as Mexican waters. Humpback whales make seasonal migrations between high-latitude feeding areas and low-latitude wintering areas where they mate and give birth. Though often seen traveling, she has also been observed feeding in the food-rich waters off California.

PUMPKIN
Humpback ID# 10233--- ­(October sightings)

This whale, which is a known female, was first sighted on the edge of Bodega Canyon off California on 18 October 1987. Since then, she has been seen more than 15 times. She was last seen during October 1996 with a calf, and had also been seen off Costa Rica eight months earlier without a calf.

Given the length of time between these sightings and that the gestation period for humpback whales is approximately 11 1/2 months, we can conclude that she was pregnant at the time of the Costa Rican sighting. Humpbacks make seasonal migrations between high-latitude arctic feeding areas and low-latitude wintering areas that are used to mate and give birth.

Cascadia Research has also recently collected data that shows that Costa Rica is one of these breeding and calving grounds for North Pacific humpback whales.

DIEGO - Humpback whale ID# 10002

Diego was first sighted in the Gulf of Farallones in August, 1983. Since that first sighting Diego has been encountered in years 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 in the Gulf of Farallones. He has also been sighted numerous times along California's Central coast during the Summer and Fall months. Diego has been seen along mainland Mexico in the winter months 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2004.

In the winter of 2004 Mexican researchers noted that Diego was breaching (jumping out of the water completely), tossing his tail into the air, and slapping his pectoral fins down on the water. These dramatic displays can be very exciting to watch, and whales often exhibit such behavior on the breeding and calving grounds. Humpback whales travel to warmer waters in the winters to calve and mate, then return to the more productive waters in the north to feed over the summer.

CHOMP - Humpback whale ID# 10713
Killer whale rake marks on fluke

chomp was first sighted in 1992 with the current injuries, resighted in years 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, and annually from 2001-2005.

These injuries on Chomp's fluke were likely caused by a killer whale biting down on the fluke with their sharp teeth. Luckily Chomp was able to get away alive, but the scars from the tooth marks will always be visible on the fluke. Young humpback whales are more likely to have encounters with killer whales than older/larger humpback whales.

SHRED - Humpback whale ID#10570

"Shred" - 15 October 1993

Shred, a female humpback whale, was first sighted in 1991. She is easily identified because of the damage to her fluke, which was well healed at the time of the first sighting. Before a terminal dive Shred tends to lift her fluke up much higher than other humpback whales.

Despite the injuries Shred has been encountered regularly since 1991, and she travels great distances as we found when she was sighted in Panama during the winter of 2003. Resighted in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005. Most recently identified in the Santa Barbara Channel April 2008.

It is not known what caused Shred's injuries, but some typical causes of injuries on whales are encounters with boats, killer whales, fishing gear, and sometimes weakened whales will be preyed on by sharks.

Janna: Humpback ID#9001F

This humpback whale, who's gender is currently unknown, was first identified near Pt Arguello, Southern California, on August 10, 1987. ince then it has been seen over a dozen times along the California coast, including places like San Luis, Half Moon Bay, Monterey Bay, and the Santa Barbara Channel. Sometimes alone or in the company of a variety of other individual humpbacks, this whale has generally been
seen slowly travelling or just milling about.

Howard II --Humpback Whale ID # 9007
(named for dorsal fin shape and Gulf of Farallones sightings)

Howard II 

Humpback whale # 9007 was first encountered July 1988 off of Port San Luis, Central California. The second time that researchers photographed # 9007 occurred October 1991, very close to the area that this whale had been first encountered. From 1991 through 2008, whale # 9007 was encountered every year, only missing years 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Whale # 9007 has been encountered 28 times with 27 sightings occurring along the California coast, and a single encounter in February 2006 off Nicaragua. During the summer this whale seems to favor central California, with more encounters in Monterey Bay than any other area surveyed.

Whale # 9007 is most likely a male, since “he” has been observed in the “escort” role in mother-calf-escort groups off California in 1997 and 1999, and in the winter off Nicaragua in 2006. During the 1999 encounter in Monterey Bay #9007 was an escort to the mother (whale # 9038 a whale that was first identified in July 1988 off Port San Luis) and calf (whale # 11315). The calf 11315 has been seen in Monterey Bay in 2003, 2005 and most recently in 2006.

Sharktip-- Blue whale ID # 372
(named for dorsal fin shape and Gulf of Farallones sightings)

Sharktip was first encountered in Monterey Bay, 1986. Most of the sightings of Sharktip were off of northern and northern central California. Sharktip has been seen on 7 different occasions in the Gulf of Farallones and 7 times in Monterey Bay. Sharktip has been seen in the company of as many as 7 whales, and is often seen with other whales.

Sharktip is often sighted milling, and in 2001 was observed surface lunge feeding in Monterey Bay. Surface lunge feeding is when a whale lunges at the surface with its mouth open,engulfing thousands of gallons of water and prey. Sharktip was named for the numerous encounters of him/her around the shark filled waters of the Farallon Islands and for the shape of dorsal fin which has a small injury, making it appear to have a shark shaped dorsal fin.

Gus Whaley: Humpback ID# 9029

Gus Whaley, a male, was first photographed 22 July 1988 off Central California. Since that initial encounter he has been identified 40 times, with the most recent encounter occurring 15 August 2008 off Port San Luis. This whale has been identified on the calving and breeding grounds of Mainland Mexico 1990, 1992, 1996 and 2002. In 2008 he was encountered off Nicaragua 17 February, and on 4 May of the same year this whale was resighted 2,172 nautical miles north in the Santa Barbara Channel! Although this whale is capable of traveling great distances, he has not been sighted north of Monterey Bay California. The summer sighting history of this whale shows that he primarily is sighted in the Santa Barbara Channel, with 21 of the 33 California encounters occurring in that area.

The ventral side of whale # 9029's fluke shows that he has had at least one serious encounter with killer whales. Multiple and close set parallel white lines, such as the ones seen on the ventral fluke of # 9029 are the healed scars left from the teeth of killer whales. Killer whales will often grab the pec fin or fluke of a humpback whale (especially calves or yearlings) to try to hold the whale underwater. Whale # 9029 had rake marks on his flukes when he was first photographed in 1988, however during 1994/1995 he accumulated additional rake marks. This is clearly a lucky whale to survive at least two killer whale attacks.

Chief - Humpback whale ID # 9018-
Chief - Humpback whale # 9018 was first photographed by Mexican researchers in 1985 near Isla Isabel, which is located about 30 kilometers west of Mainland Mexico. This whale was seen again of Isla Isabel in February 1989, in Bahia de Banderas in December 1991, and off the tip of the Baja Peninsula in March 1993. In all, this whale has been encountered 21 times with the northernmost encounter occurring off Point St George in Northern California in October 1992. From 1990 to 1999 this whale was seen off northern California in the mid to late summer months. The most recent encounters of this whale occurred during July 2000, and August 2005 and 2008 off southern central California. It is possible that whale # 9018 has shifted his/her summer feeding area farther south in more recent years to adapt to changes in food availability.
This humpback whale like all others of its species can be distinguished from all other humpback whales by the pigmentation and trailing edge pattern on its fluke. Whale #9018 has a speckled pattern on both tips of its ventral fluke, and a possible injury in the fluke notch that appears as a white scar at the center of the fluke. Sometimes the injuries on the flukes can tell us about the history of the whale, some have killer whale “rake marks” (actually killer whale teeth marks), and other whales have clean slices missing that were possibly caused by interactions with vessels or fishery gear. Although whale 9018 has some small injuries on its fluke, at this time it is not possible to determine how the injuries were obtained.

Name a Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale ID # 9002

This whale was first identified off Central California in July 1988. From 1988 to 2008 whale # 9002 has been encountered 23 times off California, primarily in the Gulf of Farallones. Whale # 9002 was sighted twice in the end of the summer of 2008. The August encounter occurred off of Port San Luis where # 9002 was in close proximity to one other humpback whale and a second pair swam nearby. All animals in the two pairs were exhibiting “milling” behavior which is generally characterized by non-directional swimming.

The second encounter in 2008 occurred exactly a month later in Monterey Bay, again whale # 9002 was milling close to another humpback whale. Whale # 9002 is generally encountered in the company of at least one other whale, but in 1989 this whale was sighted with seven other whales in the Gulf of Farallones, a very productive area for whales to feed. Although we know from photo id and genetic samples that humpback whales that feed off central California tend to migrate primarily to Mainland Mexico to mate and give birth during the winter months, whale #9002 has not been identified during the winter season, so we cannot know which of the 4 primary breeding/calving regions this whale uses.

 
Humpback Whale ID #9019
Humpback whale # 9019, a female, was first encountered in the company of five other whales in July 1988 off Southern Central California. From 1988 to 2008, she has been encountered three times off Southern Central California (1988), twice off Mainland Mexico (January 1997 and December 2001), and over the years 78 times of Northern Central California (75 of those encounters in Monterey Bay).

Whale #9019 was first sighted with a calf on 3 August 2005 in Monterey Bay. The mother and her calf (whale # 12049) were sighted slow traveling, feeding and milling in close proximity to each other 19 times from early August to 17 October, 2005. That first year the researchers noted that the calf sustained an injury on its left side. The following year whale # 9019 was sighted slow traveling by herself in Monterey Bay 12 July. Her calf # 12049 was not seen in 2006, but it was seen the following year in Half Moon Bay in mid October, where the Cascadia researcher Erin Falcone who observed the two year old noted that the whale was “small”. Whale #9019’s calf was last seen in October of 2008 in Monterey Bay a few days earlier than the October sighting of her mom.

Name a Blue Whale

This blue whale is available for naming and adoption: ID#2283R

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