December 15 gray whale counts from shore
FOURTEEN MORE GRAY WHALES! ACS/LA GRAY WHALE CENSUS UPDATE: 15 DEC (PVIC). Our first two GRAY WHALE sightings (a pair and a trio) traveled very close together. One gray raised its head high; a sea lion porpoised with this sighting. Another gray blew multiple times; then we lost it until it was nearly out of sight. We watched one gray trio for two hours. BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN accompanied a pair of gray whales. FIN WHALES foraged through our area: one pair and one single fin whale. We also spotted COMMON DOLPHIN. Our day ended with a spectacular sunset. NOTE FROM ALISA: Today’s count puts us at SEVENTY-FIVE southbound grays; our previous high count to date (1-15 December, over 30 seasons) was THIRTY-SIX grays, two years ago! This season is most likely an early southbound migration season – or more grays than usual may be using an inshore route; we will know more as the season progresses! -Alisa
Please check out our daily counts: http://www.acs-la.org/
Today: Southbound gray whales: 14
Northbound gray whales: 0
Total gray whales: 14