| Pages:
1
2
3
4 |
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
her movements are consistent with gray whale summer feeding patterns...they graze in shallow water along the coast and stay usually within a 50 mile
radius or so depending on the availability of food.
|
|
|
Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Shari, from studying the map provided by the link I notice she's found what we know to be feeding ground in an area just offshore and outside two
large peninsula/lagoon locations. A girl's gotta eat, right, to keep her girlish figure?
The topography might indicate this area receives run-off from the nearby small lakes and streams... or not as I may be reading this all wrong. On edit
and re-read your prior post, you've pretty well answered why-- this is a feeding ground-- but I'm asking about the topography. What about this area
makes it so rich in food? It looks to be adjacent to a higher land area and might receive alot of direct runoff. Its clearly not too deep but deeper
than the lagoons to the north and south. She's eating plankton. What about this location draws her?
Why do you suppose she's chosen this area to hang out? Might we assume this to be her summer feeding/breeding waters? Might she migrate away from here
in this season?
How long is the summer season up north, and more to the point do you think she and other Western Grey Whales will come back down to Baja next winter?
[Edited on 6-13-2012 by Mulegena]
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
|
|
|
Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Mulegena
Shari, from studying the map provided by the link I notice she's found what we know to be feeding ground in an area just offshore and outside two
large peninsula/lagoon locations. A girl's gotta eat, right, to keep her girlish figure?
The topography might indicate this area receives run-off from the nearby small lakes and streams... or not as I may be reading this all wrong. On edit
and re-read your prior post, you've pretty well answered why-- this is a feeding ground-- but I'm asking about the topography. What about this area
makes it so rich in food? It looks to be adjacent to a higher land area and might receive alot of direct runoff. Its clearly not too deep but deeper
than the lagoons to the north and south. She's eating plankton. What about this location draws her?
Why do you suppose she's chosen this area to hang out? Might we assume this to be her summer feeding/breeding waters? Might she migrate away from here
in this season?
How long is the summer season up north, and more to the point do you think she and other Western Grey Whales will come back down to Baja next winter?
[Edited on 6-13-2012 by Mulegena] |
Just found this disturbing news at : http://www.livescience.com/11382-10-species-kiss-goodbye.htm...
Western Gray Whale
Although the International Whaling Commission banned the hunting of gray whales in 1947, the Western Pacific population (Esrichtiius robustus) never
recovered from unchecked whaling in the 19th and early 20th centuries: Out of the 100 western grays that remain, only 23 are reproductive females.
Their only known feeding ground off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia has since been annexed by oil companies whose exploration and
mining activities, including high-intensity seismic surveying, drilling operations, increased ship and air traffic, and oil spills, are driving the
30-ton mammals to extinction.
|
|
|
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
cisco, this may be why Varvara decided to look for greener pastures...or a new gene pool to play in.
Mulegena...gray whales are bottom feeders and so they look for areas with lots of yummy amphipods on the bottom. We know in BC, the best feeding
grounds are where fresh water streams or rivers empty into shallow bays...old growth forests produce the best feeding grounds whereas clear cut
logging causes silting up of the rivers and streams and chokes the amphipods out.
So their prime feeding grounds are dwindling...which is another example of what we must look at when saving animals...for example the whales dont feed
hardly at all in the calving lagoons...but thier survival as a species depends more on food availability which is directly threatened by things like
deforestation and oil spills, shipping etc.
while Save the Whales camgaignes are certainly worthwhile, it is the degredation of habitat and feeding grounds that also threatens the survival of
this species.
|
|
|
Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Varara is staying close to shore
this week and is just cruising and eating. It'd appear she's finding adequate food right on-shore, and other than a 200 km. round-trip up the coast
and back she's staying close for the summer months.
When she does get on the move, it'll be fun to see where she heads.
Here's the link; take a peek: http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2011
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
|
|
|
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
gray whales often remain in feeding grounds for months within a short radius and very close to shore which makes them the perfect whale for watching
because you dont have to go far offshore to see them and they are on the surface much more than other species of whales...although I do have issues
with too many whale watching boats in a feeding grounds as it does disrupt their feeding patterns which may lead to not having gained enough weight to
sustain them on the long winter migration.
|
|
|
Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Just as Shari so wisely stated earlier this month, Varvara has been stickin' close to what may be her summer home and feeding grounds.
For the week of July 8-15 " This week Varvara went south to Chayvo twice and is now north of Piltun for the second time this week. "
May she stay strong and healthy and return to Baja with the cooling weather nice & fat & sassy!
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2
3
4 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
