Gray Whales 4/7/24
My cat was very insistent that I let her out on the porch, so I decided to have my lunch out there with her. That ended up being a remarkably fortuitous choice (thank you kitty!). Shortly after I went out, I looked out toward the ocean and noticed a lot of people lined up along the railing. It seemed like they were looking at something. I ushered the cat in and was then momentarily stuck with a dilemma: grab the camera and go out, or see what they’re looking at first so I know what lens to bring. I chose wrong - I decided to go out first. As soon as I got to the railing I saw the gray whales playing in the surf. I sprinted back home, grabbed my camera gear (which was slower than normal because everything was set up for baby owls) and got back out as quickly as I could. I did manage to get a few shots, but if I had just grabbed the camera first, I could have gotten a fair bit more, and potentially even gotten some “sharking” shots (when they swim on their side with one fin up, which looks like a shark fin). But I guess it’s hard to complain about not getting enough whale shots - I’m quite happy I got any.
It appeared to me that there were 2 small whales and 1 large one. Likely a mother and her calves. It’s hard to say what they were doing, and I don’t want to extrapolate too much - but there were a lot of gulls fishing right where the whales were. And the gulls remained there even after the whales left, which implies to me the fish were hanging in that area, and it wasn’t just that the gulls were getting leftovers from the whales. So it’s possible these whales were exhibiting the fish-eating behavior we observed here before, which is the subject of a scientific article recently published about the behavior observed here: Fish Feeding and Rapid Foraging Behavior Switching by Gray Whales in California.
