Vancouver Harbour on New Year’s Eve Day

There are moments when a new discovery opens our eyes to something we overlooked far too long. Today was one of those days. I met up with Rod MacVicar and Tom Middleton from Pacific WildLife Foundation to do a reconnaissance visit of birds in Vancouver Harbour. I had watched birds from Stanley Park at the western end of Vancouver for many years and knew of the large rafts of seaducks there in winter. English Bay once held many thousand western grebes and surf scoters that qualified it for an Important Bird Area. Few western grebes have been seen for many years although scoters are still a familiar species there. However, I was not prepared for the large flocks among the industrial areas of the harbour. There were flocks of several thousand surf scoters and one large flock of more than a thousand greater scaups among the freighters.  Why the birds are in the harbour is not entirely clear although I suspect they are eating mussels and barnacles clinging to the wharves and piers. This was some good news to end a year.

Discoveries and Explorations

The year 2011 at the Pacific WildLife Foundation was eventful with some intriguing new discoveries. Jim Darling and Tim Frasier published their findings on the genetics of gray whales. It was widely believed that the eastern Pacific gray whales belonged to one large herd. Then Jim and Tim showed that the whales that spent the summer along the BC coast were genetically different from the rest of the herd. This discovery suggested that there might distinct groups among the herd that warranted particular management.

Also with whales, Jim Darling, Rod MacVicar and Rob Butler were in Maui working on Jim’s project to understand why humpbacks sing where they photographed a whale that was at least 30 years old (see previous post).

Also in 2011, we got a clearer picture of the migration routes of a seaduck known as the Barrows goldeneye. Most of the world population of this sea duck spends the winter on the north Pacific coast. Its nesting grounds in the interior of British Columbia was well known but where it moulted its feathers was a mystery. Sean Boyd and Dan Esler attached satellite radios to a few of the ducks that allowed the birds to be tracked through the year. They knew that many ducks flew to lakes in Alberta but they also found out that some went north to moult their feathers before returning to the coast in autumn.

Pacific WildLife is a partner in the BC BreedingBird Atlas that is drawing to a close soon. We helped out by going on an exploration along the eastern side of the Strait of Georgia to record breeding birds including documentation of several small seabird colonies. These data along with the entire atlas data set for BC are displayed in maps of each species that you see on the web site.

We got started on an Important Cetacean Area (ICA) project this year. The aim is to identify places that are important for feeding, nursing, where large numbers of cetaceans habitually frequent, and so on. We have been visiting colleagues, drawing maps and much more that we will soon post on our web site. Funding for this project came from the Foundation and an anonymous donor.

There is much more going on in the Foundation and several new projects that will begin in 2012.  We have some new Fellows who are bringing fresh ideas too. The Foundation began over three decades ago as West Coast Whale Research and changed its name to Pacific WildLife in 2003. Most of our funding comes from research grants but we are are especially grateful to donors who provide us with support with no strings attached. This support allows the Foundation to delve into new projects, such as the ICA. If you would like to know more about us, click on the our web site or drop us a note.

 

 

Among Giants

While in Hawaii, we stayed next door to Flip Nicklin, photographer for National Geographic. Flip is known far and wide for his stunning underwater photographs of whales. He has spent a lifetime diving among the giant animals in Hawaii, the Canadian Arctic, Patagonia, Sri Lanka to name a few. He brought home images of these animals as never seen before and a treasure chest of stories.

In 1979, scientists were pioneering studies of whales in the wild. The problem was that the whales only spent a brief moment on the surface to get a gulp of air. All the action was taking place beneath the waves and out of sight. The scientists had discovered that humpbacks off Maui were singing but they could not see what the animals were doing. Flip literally dove into the research and took the first picture of a singing whale. It became known as Frank. Flip’s career was launched and he would spend three decades taking whale portraits.

Flip has a new book out called Among Giants – A Life with Whales published by University of Chicago Press.  It tells the story of Flips life as a National Geographic photographer along with brief entries by some of the scientists he has worked with over the years. It is illustrated with some of the photographs that made Flip famous. I have a treasured copy sitting prominently on my book shelf.

Thirty year old humpback in Hawaii

While in Hawaii last week with Jim Darling and Rod MacVicar from PWLF, we photographed several tail flukes of humpbacks. The markings on the underside of flukes are unique to each whale and allows individuals to be identified. Jim  sent a few of his Hawaiian tail fluke photos from last week to Jan Straley in Alaska. She immediately recognized one of them known as ‘Scooper’ who was first identified by Chuck Jurasz in the 1970s in Icy Strait off Juneau, Alaska making Scooper at least thirty-two years old.

Hawaiian Humpbacks

Pacific WildLife Foundation Director Jim Darling has been researching humpback whale behaviour for many decades. His recent research has been focussing on the songs of humpbacks in Hawaii where Rod MacVicar also from PWLF, and I joined him this past week.

About 10,000 humpbacks that spend the summer along the BC coast and southeast Alaska migrate to the warm tropical waters around Hawaii for the winter. They are arriving now and we set off to try to record some songs of the whales early in the season. This research is led by Whale Trust in Hawaii. We helped to set up the boats and run some of the recording equipment for Jim.

Male humpbacks sing by uttering a series of squeals and grunts while suspended about 10 meters below the surface. The sing for about 10 minutes, surface for 3 or 4 deep breaths and return to their positions. The work required locating a singer and recording a full song between surface breaths.  Jim managed to get a few songs augmented by photos of the under tail markings that allow each animal to be identified. On a few occasions we watched skirmishes between whales likely jostling to breed with fertile females. This work entails are great deal of patience. Most of the action takes place underwater and out of sight so piecing together the puzzle of why whales sing is a challenge.

I will be posting photos and more information on the project on the Pacific WildLife Foundation website.

Pacific White-sided Dolphins Return

There are reports that Pacific White-sided Dolphins have arrived once again in the Strait of Georgia during the past week or two. The dolphins were quite scarce along they BC coast until about 1985 when they began to appear frequently in many coastal areas. I remember seeing herds of them near Port Hardy and along Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) for many years. They only recently invaded the Strait of Georgia. Howe Sound has become a favourite haunt in the past few years and attentive ferry travellers between Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and Horseshoe Bay on the mainland of BC were rewarded with sightings often through the winter.

This dolphin is acrobatic and active. They will often ride the bow waves of ships and boats. I have had them ride the bow wave of my inflatable boat. They race over to the boats with great speed and surf just below the surface on the wave pushed by the bow.

I would be interested to know if anyone has seen the dolphins in English Bay or Vancouver Harbour.

Wildlife of the Pacific

This blog will explore some of the mysteries of the natural world bringing insights into new discoveries and following the lives of people that are influenced by the ocean. I hope you will come back often. You can find more about me at my web site www.robbutler.ca