Pete Thomas Outdoors

Humpback whale and newborn calf play role in man falling overboard

By Pete Thomas

A tourist in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, while flying a drone from his hotel balcony, has captured footage of a humpback whale helping to cause a man to fall overboard. Also featured in Lou Boyer's footage is a humpback whale calf born just hours earlier, and turkey vultures going after the drone.

Boyer's footage, captured Nov. 29 from Playa Grande Resort, is wonderfully narrated but here are a few observations:

The whales in question appear at 52 seconds and involve a momma humpback whale and her newborn calf – likely born the same day – and most likely a male “escort” whale.

It’s almost certainly not the father, as mentioned in the footage. Male humpbacks mate with multiple females and do not show loyalty to a single female after mating.

It’s typical for an “escort” to travel with a momma and calf, according to researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger, as sort of a protector hoping, at some point, for a mating opportunity.

Also, keep an eye on the man, or person, in the pink shirt. As momma whale approaches the boat while supporting the calf on her head, the man lays down at the bow and tries to touch the calf.

As the whales swim beneath the boat toward the stern, the other people move to the port side briefly while the man in the pink shirt walks toward the stern on the starboard side.

The whale seems to be nudging the boat just before the other people rush back to the starboard side, causing the boat to sharply tilt, dumping the man overboard.

So this sudden shift of weight, perhaps more than the nudging of the vessel by the whale, appears to have led to the man falling overboard. (He was safely lifted back aboard.)

At this point, a small patch of blood appears near momma whale’s flukes. As researcher Nico Ransome pointed out via social media, the newborn calf  – note the floppiness of its flukes – and the blood could have spilled from the mother’s birth canal.

An unrelated highlight begins at 2:39, as turkey vultures begin pursuing Boyer’s drone as it’s being retrieved over the rocky landscape. At 3:18 one of the large birds swoops in and is captured on camera at close range.

Boyer, who is from Huntington Beach, Calif., took evasive measures and safely retrieved his device.

San Diego whale watchers encounter giant Mola mola

By Pete Thomas

For a group of San Diego whale watchers on Tuesday, the highlight did not involve whales or dolphins, but a bizarre-looking Mola mola.

The surprise encounter occurred 10 miles southwest of Mission Bay as Capt. Domenic Biagini, of Gone Whale Watching San Diego, was searching for cetaceans.

The Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, stood out because of its immense size and pale coloration as it lolled beneath the surface.

“It was really neat because most of the people on the boat specialized in diving, so this whole trip was something different for them,” Biagini said. “Right as they got on the boat they asked about molas, and I explained how we haven’t seen that many this year. So for this to have happened on this specific trip made it that much more special.”

Mola molas are the world’s largest bony fishes (these do not include sharks or rays) and can measure up to 14 feet and weigh 5,000 pounds. They inhabit tropical and temperate seas and feed primarily on sea jellies, squid, small fish, and crustaceans.

Because of their truncated bodies, the position of their fins, and their odd-shaped mouths, their appearance is otherworldly. Or, as the Monterey Bay Aquarium states on its website, “Ocean sunfish, or molas, look like the invention of a mad scientist.”

Biagini said most Mola molas encountered off Southern California measure 2 to 3 feet, but the sunfish that swam around his boat for 10 minutes on Tuesday measured at least 7 feet.

“It was by far the largest I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The divers on the boat were so impressed that some were tempted to jump in for a swim with the docile critter. “It was hard keeping them in the boat,” Biagini joked. “But everyone behaved.”

–Images courtesy of Gone Whale Watching San Diego

Video shows fisherman toss explosive at sea lions; investigation launched

By Pete Thomas

Video circulating on social media shows a British Columbia commercial fisherman tossing an explosive device among dozens of sea lions resting on the surface, scattering the mammals.

The graphic footage has angered animal rights proponents and prompted an investigation by Canadian authorities, while it appears to have been published to show the extent of a sea lion “invasion” that some say threatens the livelihoods of fishermen.

Campbell River Whale & Bear excursions posted the video to Facebook Wednesday with the statement: “This video was shot over the weekend on a commercial seine vessel waiting for the Commercial Herring opening. I’m making this video public so the public is aware that this is happening repeatedly right now off Comox, Denman Island and Hornby Island.

We think this video was filmed by the BC Balance Pinniped Society who is trying to push a 50% Pinniped cull on the coast of British Columbia and Canada. This behavior is 100% illegal and goes against the Marine Mammal Guidelines.”

The Pacific Balance Pinniped Society first posted the footage Tuesday on its Facebook group page. The group stated that the “bear banger” device was used to scatter Stellar and California sea lions that were sitting over a massive school of herring.

The society wants Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans to expand indigenous harvesting rights to include the commercial sale of the seal and sea lion meat. The group believes a substantial cull would allow various fisheries to rebound, and create safer and more productive fishing conditions.

The society’s Facebook post, written by Thomas Sewid, begins by describing the scene before the explosive device was tossed: “This is what the herring test boats are dealing with at night right now. Theoretically darkness brings the herring to the surface, which makes it easier to catch them. The test boats are to toss rings with nets and drag up about fifty pounds of herring to sample for roe percentage content from the nets.

“Seeing as there’s such a high number of British Columbia resident Stellar sea lions and thousands of invasive California sea lions, the herring are being dove upon. This massive amount of sea lions diving on huge schools of herring scares them to stay deep. This makes it so captains cannot catch herring, for they’re too deep for nets.”

CBC identified the fisherman who tossed the device as Allan Marsden, and reported that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is investigating and might file charges.

The DFO stated in a tweet: “Reminder: It is illegal to disturb #seals, #sealions or other marine mammals. This includes the use of acoustic deterrents such as seal bombs or other explosives.”

Andrew Trites, who runs the marine mammal research department at the University of British Columbia, said of the video footage: “Throwing a stick of dynamite next to the head of an animal, you’re going to blow out its hearing. If it’s near its eye, you’re going to blow the eye out.

Trites added: “I know I’ve heard them say ‘Well it doesn’t hurt the animal.’ Well if that’s the case I would challenge them to hold that stick in their hand, light it and let’s film it.”

–Image showing Stellar sea lions is courtesy of NOAA Fisheries

 

Dolphins race along shoreline as beachgoers watch in awe

By Pete Thomas

A photographer in Western Australia has captured video footage showing four dolphins in a sprint down the beach a mere stone’s throw from shore.

A 100-meter dolphin dash, if you will. A marine mammal version of a horse race, with the inside lane seemingly producing a clear winner.

The remarkable footage was captured Wednesday at Yanchep Lagoon by Carly Sinden, who said the dolphins raised their heads collectively, as if announcing themselves, before launching their speedy exhibition.

“They were so inquisitive and friendly, and even swam around the school kids who were in the lagoon having their school swimming lesson,” Sinden, who specializes in newborn baby photography, told FTW Outdoors.

Sinden also captured a second clip showing the dolphins racing in the opposite direction, this time with people in the water. One wader was a mere inches from one of the friendly mammals, and didn’t flinch as it dashed past him.

Said Sinden: “It’s something I will never forget and makes me grateful to call this beautiful place home.”

Yanchep Lagoon, near Perth, is popular among swimmers and snorkelers, who apparently never know what they might see.

–Image and videos courtesy of Carly Sinden Photography

Voracious fur seal slaps kayaker in face with an octopus; video

By Pete Thomas

Kayakers were having the times of their lives off New Zealand this week when one of them was interrupted by a clammy slap to the face, courtesy of a brazen fur sea clutching a large octopus in its jaws.

The accompanying footage, captured by Taiyo Masuda off Kaikoura, on New Zealand’s South Island, shows the male New Zealand fur seal break the surface and fling the octopus against a paddler identified by Yahoo 7 News as Kyle Mulinder.

Viewers will note by the kayakers’ reactions that this became the day’s highlight.

Not so for the octopus. Seals sometimes violently shake their prey to tear it into pieces, and in this case the kayaker just happened to be almost precisely where this occurred.

“He thrashed it in mid-fight and my face happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Mulinder said.

Wrote Masuda in the YouTube description:  “Right around lunchtime, several seals started to swim around, we just thought they were refreshing their body, yet apparently they were seeking more of food.

“One seal swims right next to us, having an octopus in his mouth, pops right up of the surface next to us, then tries to chew up the leg but ended up slapping our face!

“Such a raw moment, brought us so much laugh to all of us all day long… What a day to remember!”

Rare all-white Risso's dolphin spotted twice in past week off Monterey

By Pete Thomas

A rare white dolphin has captured the hearts of marine mammal enthusiasts in California’s Monterey Bay, where the striking mammal has been spotted at least twice within the past week.

The juvenile Risso’s dolphin, almost certainly an albino, was documented via Monterey Bay Whale Watch drone-cam Thursday as it stood out among other dolphins with typical gray coloration and scarring. (Pardon the ominous-sounding music.)

 

“This albino juvenile Risso’s dolphin has rarely been seen in Monterey,” the whale-watching company stated on Facebook. “Today, we had great looks at it and from the drone’s perspective you can see the other Risso’s swimming next to it with ‘normal’ dark gray color and scars from squid and teeth [from other Risso’s dolphins].”

RELATED: Deep-sea denizen wows scientists with bizarre displays during video encounter

On September 14, the same dolphin was photographed by Kate Cummings of Blue Ocean Whale Watch, among others. The white mammal was among hundreds of other Risso’s dolphins. Blue Ocean also logged sightings on Thursday.

The dolphin, which has earned the nickname Casper, was first photo-identified as a calf in 2014, swimming alongside its presumed mother. The mammal was spotted again in 2015, and last year. It might be the only all-white Risso’s dolphin documented around the world. (Some white-colored marine mammals are leucistic,  caused by the absence of some pigment. Albinos are all white with pink-colored eyes.)

Risso’s dolphins are unique in their appearance, featuring bulbous heads, large dorsal fins and gray, scarred bodies. They inhabit tropical and temperate waters around the world.

The large dolphins can measure to 13 feet and weigh 1,100 pounds.

–Images are courtesy of Blue Ocean Whale Watch

 

Harsh criticism as Icelandic whalers appear to have killed endangered blue whale

Blue whale at processing plant. Photo: Arne Feuerhahn/Hard to Port

By Pete Thomas

Iceland’s controversial whaling program fell under harsh attack this week when it was revealed that whalers had likely killed an endangered blue whale.

Environmental groups have shared photos of the dead whale at a processing facility. Some experts are unsure whether the mammal is a blue whale or a blue whale-fin whale mix.

Blue whales and fin whales are endangered species, and hunting them commercially is a flaunt of international law.

Icelandic whalers have spent the past several weeks hunting fin whales, under national permits, for the first time in three years. The whalers are not authorized to kill blue whales.

Photo: Hard to Port

The meat of fin whales is sold to Japan, which also has a controversial whaling program.

Sea Shepherd, which has been monitoring activity at Iceland’s whaling station in Hvalfjordur, reported Wednesday that the blue whale was killed July 7. (Sea Shepherd did not mention the possibility of a hybrid whale.)

Sea Shepherd claims that the blue whale kill is in addition to the slaughter by Icelandic whalers of 21 fin whales by the company Hvalur hf.

“No other nation – not even Japan or Norway – slaughters fin whales, and there has not been a blue whale harpooned by anyone for the last 50 years until this one was harpooned by the [vessel] Hvalur 8,” Sea Shepherd stated.

The group Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) reported the blue whale kill under a headline, “Icelandic Whalers Breach International Law and Kill Iconic, Protected Blue Whale By Mistake.”

The WDC report stated that the whale was first spotted as it was positioned on a ramp by Arne Feuerhahn, a German conservationist, who noted that the massive mammal “was strikingly different in appearance to a fin whale.”

Marianne Rasmussen, a scientist with Project Blue Whale, told the WDC: “Based on the physical appearance and coloration of the lower jaw and baleen plates, it cannot be a fin whale. The mottled-grey coloration of the body points toward a blue whale, so the whale in question is either a blue whale or a blue/fin hybrid, genetics can confirm this.”

The nonprofit Hard to Port, headed By Feuerhahn, has been following the whaling effort on its Facebook page, and has shared links to a handful of reports by Iceland-based news sites.

Blue whales are the largest creatures on the planet; they can measure 100 feet and weigh nearly 200 tons. Fin whales are the second largest whale species. Both species were hunted to the brink of extinction during the whaling era.

The International Whaling Commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, but a handful of countries oppose the ban and still conduct limited whaling operations.

–Whale images courtesy of Hard to Port

Rare white orca photographed off eastern Russia; 'We are happy to greet her again!'

By Pete Thomas

A mostly white orca has been photographed by Russian researchers near the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea.

The rare sighting was of a leucistic female orca that had not been documented in several years.

 

Russian Orcas, a research group, announced the sighting early Monday on Facebook:

“On the first day of our fieldwork in the Commander Islands, we encountered a large aggregation of several groups, including one with a white individual.

“Not the famous Iceberg this time, but the female CO210 also known as ‘Mama Tanya’ (named after the main photo-ID researcher of our project Tatiana Ivkovich, who is also blonde).

“CO210 was encountered for the first time in 2009 and re-sighted several times in 2010, but then disappeared for a long time. We are happy to greet her again!”

Iceberg, an adult male, was first documented in 2012 off the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia.

Only a handful of albino or leucistic orcas have been documented around the world. (Leucistic animals boast some pigment and are not as white as true albinos.)

The Commander Islands are located about 100 miles east of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

–Images of white orca are courtesy of Russian Orcas

 

Orcas and freedivers mingle off Cabo San Lucas in rare and mesmerizing encounter; video

Video screen grab

By Pete Thomas

Freedivers off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, spent nearly three hours Friday in the company of curious orcas.

The accompanying footage, captured by Regi Domingo of Pelagic Safari, shows one orca remaining almost totally motionless in a vertical position for several seconds while watching a diver and his camera.

 

Domingo said the encounter occurred five miles offshore, in the Sea of Cortez, and that the sleek mammals seemed as mesmerized as the divers were.

The company wrote on Facebook: “Believe it or not... Cabo San Lucas! An absolutely epic day on the water. Orcas in Baja are like the holy grail and yesterday we were fortunate enough to have three hours of playtime with a friendly pod.”

There were at least a dozen orcas, or killer whales, and all but one juvenile were females, Domingo said.

Photo courtesy of ©Pelagic Safari

She added that this family unit has been spotted recently elsewhere in the Sea of Cortez, feeding on a type of rays called mobulas, as well as small sharks and humpback whale calves.

The female orcas were protective of the juvenile male, but curious of the divers.

“They were exhibiting really interesting behaviors with us,” Domingo said. “They were staying vertical, checking us out. But they were super calm.”

Photo courtesy of @Pelagic Safari

They would drift back, and come back in for close looks at the divers. Some would open their mouths slightly while looking at the divers in what Domingo described as “strange movements.”

On Monday, the same orca family unit was spotted off La Paz, 70 miles to the north, but the Cabo San Lucas diving community is hopeful that the iconic mammals will return.

Mobula rays, known for their spectacular leaping abilities, are found throughout the southern Sea of Cortez.

Scuba divers enjoy face-to-face encounter with gray whale off Monterey (video)

Video screen grab shows how close the whale was to the divers

By Pete Thomas

Scuba divers could barely contain their excitement during a rare face-to-face encounter with a gray whale Sunday off Monterey, Ca.

Ben Laboy and Nicole Guido-Estrada were part of an expedition with Bamboo Reef Scuba Diving Centers when the curious mammal approached, as the divers screamed with glee through their breathing gear.

“Had the experience of a lifetime this morning when a gray whale came up to say hi to me and Nicole on our boat dive at McAbee Pinnacle in Monterey Bay!” Laboy wrote on Facebook. “I will never forget looking into the eye of this majestic animal!”

Reached via email, Laboy said the encounter occurred at a depth of about 40 feet, not far from fabled Cannery Row in downtown Monterey.

“I had seen something behind Nicole, and was squinting at it for a solid 5-10 seconds trying to figure out if it was moving or not," Laboy said. "And then when it materialized, we both realized it was an animal, and that's about where the video starts."

Asked what they were screaming into their masks, Laboy said, “I think I was just saying, ‘Oh my god, that's a whale!” and Nicole probably exclaimed something a bit more colorful, haha.”

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a California-based whale researcher, said the gray whale’s behavior appeared to stem from curiosity. The divers did not seem to be in danger.

A Bamboo Reef spokesman said two others in a group of 10 also saw the whale.

The gray whale population is estimated to number about 29,000. The mammals, which can measure to about 50 feet and weigh up to 40 tons, are migrating from summer feeding grounds in Arctic waters to winter nursing lagoons in Baja California, Mexico.

The southbound migration is currently peaking off Central and Southern California.

On Sunday, Monterey Bay Whale Watch reported multiple sightings Sunday and posted video clips showing the barnacled cetaceans migrating along the coast (clip posted above).