Tag Archives: BMMRO sightings report

ABACO WHALES & DOLPHINS, BMMRO SIGHTINGS & NEWSLETTER

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ABACO WHALES & DOLPHINS: BMMRO SIGHTINGS & NEWSLETTER

I haven’t posted Abaco whale, dolphin & manatee news for a while. Time for a catch-up. Georgie the young manatee that left her mother Rita and came to Abaco from the Berry Is. alone, is no longer here. She survived a very long journey, and investigated various coastal areas of Abaco – all the while being tracked. In the end she settled down in the Cherokee area. There were anxious times during Hurricane Sandy when she went missing (having by now shed her tracking device) but she eventually reappeared at Cherokee having found a safe haven from the storm. Sadly, however, her condition deteriorated and in the New Year she was relocated to Atlantis Dolphin Cay Marine Mammal Rescue Center. Some weeks ago a healthy Georgie was moved to a sea-pen to acclimatise her for release back into the wild.

Read more about Georgie the Manatee’s epic trip HERE and about the operation to relocate her HERE

ABACO DOLPHINS – A MOTHER & HER CALF 428475_595355517150345_807197303_n-1

The Bahamas Marines Mammal Research Organisation (BMMRO) is based at Sandy Point, Abaco. A number of research projects are underway, and recently these have involved work on Andros. The team are now back, and encountering Abaco’s own dolphins and whales. The main photos on the page have all been taken in the last week or so. [The header is by Norwegian artist Roll Inge Haaver]

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN, ABACO971695_596998516986045_1649965583_n

SPERM WHALE ‘TAILING’, ABACO (1 of 3 found yesterday using acoustic tracking)374338_596998896986007_1736456956_n

DCB GBG Cover Logo dolphin

BMMRO CHART OF CETACEAN SIGHTINGS FOR MARCH 2013

Of special note are the big whales – 3 sperm whales, and a humpback whale reported close to Cherokee.
BMMRO SIGHTINGS March 2013

Sperm whales. Humpbacks. How big are they? This useful chart shows the average lengths of various whales. I grabbed it off the internet a while ago, but regrettably forgot to mark the source. So, apologies to the originator for using it uncredited, a cyber-sin I try to avoid.what-largest-whale-cetacea-size-comparison-chart-590x338

Finally, the BMMRO’s latest 4-page Newsletter contains a wealth of information about their current activities, some great pictures, and even a quiz – check out BMMRO NEWSLETTER_Apr13

Click logo to linkbmmro_logo

BOTTLENOSE DOPHINS (VIDEO) & BMMRO ABACO CETACEAN SIGHTINGS

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BOTTLENOSE DOPHINS (VIDEO) & BMMRO ABACO CETACEAN SIGHTINGS

The legendary CONCH SALAD TV is a great resource for Bahamas wildlife and way-of-life enlightenment. Their instructive videos are very well put together, and cover Nature, Marine, Art, Science, Music, Culture, Cooking, and broader Bahamas issues. The video below is 9 minutes of Bottlenose Dolphin action, and is recommended for relaxation, gentle instruction, and Kalik-swigging accompaniment…

BMMRO Whale Camp Dolphin Image FV

It time to catch up with last month’s Cetacean sightings around Abaco. The Manatee reports are of Georgie in the Cherokee area – alas no longer resident on Abaco but safely at Atlantis where she is being cared for. To know more about the Blainville’s beaked whale on Abaco, click HEREBMMRO sightings 2013

stop pres gif BMMRO’s executive director DIANE CLARIDGE has been awarded her PhD by St Andrews University for her research on beaked whales.  Dr Claridge’s new status is celebrated by humans and cetaceans alike (see image ©BMMRO below…)Bottlenose Dolphins Abaco ©BMMRO

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BMMRO: WHALE ETC SIGHTINGS; BLAINVILLE’S BEAKED WHALES; WINTER NEWSLETTER

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Blainville’s Beaked Whale, Abaco, Bahamas

SIGHTINGS REPORT OCT – DEC 2012

The last quarter of 2012 produced relatively few open-ocean CETACEAN sightings, not least because of a reduction in spotting trips during the period, with some members of the team elsewhere in the world completing their research. SIRENIAN activity is thankfully on the increase, with reporting opportunities increased by the manatees’ preference for sticking close inshore, usually in harbour areas. Georgie has gained her first yellow spot as Abaco’s only resident manatee following her long trip over from the Berry Is. (and away from mother Rita) last summer. She has  taken up residence in Cherokee. She performed a worrying vanishing trick during Hurricane Sandy, holing up (presumably) in seagrass off-shore, and (definitely) in an inshore channel for some of the time. She went AWOL again before Christmas, but has returned to Cherokee in good condition after a short vacation. Having shed her tag (several times) it was not possible to track her. The big plus is that she has proved capable of independent living, and has not become reliant on proximity to humans and their offerings of cabbage leaves etc… This photo was taken at Cherokee a few days ago.

Manatee Georgie, Abaco, Bahamas

The other notable new entry is a manatee sighting in the Freeport area of Grand Bahama. A single photo exists – a head shot – but it hasn’t been possible to identify the creature as a known one. (S)he may be a new visitor to the Bahamas. People in the area are asked to report any further sightings in the area to the BMMRO – and if possible to get a picture!
BMMRO CETACEAN SIGHTINGS OCT:DEC 12

BLAINVILLE’S BEAKED WHALES

RANGE MAP                                                         IUCN RATING “DATA DEFICIENT”

        

Mid-frequency broadband sounds of Blainville’s beaked whales

Recent research has been carried out on the sound variations of this relatively little-understood species of whale. “Recordings from acoustic tags show that five Blainville’s beaked whales produced mid-frequency broadband sounds on all of their deep dives, with each sex producing two different sound types. These broadband sounds are atypical of the regular echolocation sounds previously described for this species. One male produced a total of 75 sounds over four dives, between the depths of 109 and 524 meters, and four females produced a total of 71 sounds over 18 dives, between the depths of 305 and 1289 meters. Ninety-six percent of the male sounds and 42 percent of the female sounds were produced before the onset of foraging echolocation sounds, and all were produced before the deepest point of the dives. These sounds may be candidate communication signals, with their production timed to mitigate the risk of both predation and hypoxia (oxygen deprivation).”

The report includes sample sounds from the 3 BBWs shown below, and the one heading the page. I haven’t found a way to embed the sounds, but I am working on it (there’s a time -consuming method involving conversion to MP3, but maybe another day…)

Blainville’s Beaked Whales, Abaco, Bahamas Blainville's Beaked Whale AbacoDA

Thanks to the prolific DEAR KITTY for a cross-reference to this topic on her website, featuring a fine video of  BBW in French Polynesia

Finally, the action-packed, information-filled, image-laden 4 page winter newsletter. Click below to open.

BMMRO WINTER NEWSLETTER 2012 (Jan13)

Georgie Manatee BMMRO SUPPORT LOGO

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ABACO / BAHAMAS WHALE, DOLPHIN & MANATEE SIGHTINGS AUGUST 2012

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ABACO / BAHAMAS WHALE, DOLPHIN & MANATEE SIGHTINGS AUGUST 2012 

ANOTHER PYGMY WHALE STRANDING ON ELEUTHERA

The BMMRO has posted the cetacean / sirenian sightings for August. The main concentration off Abaco is in the food-rich south-west coast from Rocky Point down to Hole-in-the-Wall. This is where the deep water of the Great Bahama Canyon meets the shallow underwater coast of Abaco, providing an ideal feeding ground for whales and dolphins. This canyon is the largest underwater canyon in the world.

Plenty of dolphins were reported last month, and the sperm whales (including pygmy and dwarf) were still around (but for some sad Eleuthera pygmy sperm whale news, see below). Meanwhile, the yellow spot on the Berry Is. shows that all is well with the manatees.

STRANDING NOTIFICATION: PYGMY SPERM WHALE 

Last week the BMMRO was notified about a whale that had stranded dead on an Eleutheran beach on 27 August. The species was identified from the photographs as a pygmy sperm whale – the same species that stranded on the other side of Eleuthera the previous week.

Thanks to the Stranding Network, it was possible take a tissue sample and teeth for DNA, as well as more photos.The animal was about 6 feet long and moderately decomposed – possibly dead for up to 3 days. Unfortunately due to the state of decomposition a cause of death could not be determined. However more information about the animal will be obtained from the samples taken. With samples taken, the carcass can now be buried.

BMMRO WHALE, DOLPHIN & MANATEE SIGHTINGS ABACO / BAHAMAS JULY 2012

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BMMRO WHALE & DOLPHIN SIGHTINGS ABACO JULY 2012

Last month there were bottlenose dolphins for Abaco; manatees for the Berry Is. [Hi, Rita & Georgie! - check out their progress on FACEBOOK BMMRO] with a first manatee sighting (I think) off the west coast of Long Island; and quite a few whale reports off the east coast of Andros. I wonder why the whales are all in that area at the moment? Maybe the reports are high for that area because that’s where the whale spotters congregated in July…

STOP PRESS Georgie the Manatee is now weaned – for details CLICK===>>> HERE

STOP PRESS 21 AUG As a sad coda to these sightings, the BMMRO has posted news of the stranding and death of  pygmy sperm whale on Eleuthera

Stranding Event: August 19th, 2012
A blackfish stranded in Eleuthera:

Photos confirmed the species to be a pygmy sperm whale. The animal stranded alive but later died. Many thanks to Tom Glucksman and his wife for their efforts in providing pictures and getting a skin sample, which will allow us to get even more information about this animal

For more information on how to report a stranding event, please visit  http://bahamaswhales.org/stranding

BMMRO (Website)

FACEBOOK BMMRO

BAHAMAS MANATEE & BMMRO SPRING 2012 CETACEAN REPORTS

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The BMMRO has just published two online reports that will interest anyone who follows the news about Whales, Dolphins and Manatees in the Bahamas.

The first concerns the reintroduction of manatees to the wild – and offers the opportunity to adopt one of them in order to support the continuing work of the conservation of the small manatee population of the Bahamas. You could have a guess now at the number of recently recorded manatees: the answer is right at the bottom of the page. If you have followed this blog’s cetacean posts, you will have noticed my own interest in the continuing monthly sightings (mainly off the Berry Is.) I have had to reduce the size of the article, but if you click on it once – or twice – it enlarges to make it more legible.

To see the article on the BMMRO website CLICK==>> BMMRO MANATEES

To go directly to my manatee page CLICK==>> ROLLING HARBOUR MANATEES

Click article to enlarge it

BMMRO REPORT SPRING 2012

I have summarised past BMMRO quarterly reports, highlighting particular features and photos. This time I’ve put in the whole report in (I hope) legible format. To see it on the BMMRO site CLICK===>>> BMMRO SPRING 2012

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BMMRO WHALE, DOLPHIN & MANATEE SIGHTINGS MARCH 2012

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BMMRO WHALE, DOLPHIN & MANATEE SIGHTINGS MARCH 2012

Hard on the heels of the BMMRO’s Fisheries Report for 2011 – see previous posts – comes the map of last month’s sightings. First, let’s hear it for the manatees, featuring for the 4th consecutive month off the Berry Is. The 2 reports of an ‘unknown large cetacean’ off Elbow Cay are the puzzles of the month. There was a sperm whale in that area in January, but presumably it would have moved away in the meantime…. I wonder what the likely candidates are for ‘large’ besides sperm and humpbacks?

BMMRO BAHAMAS FISHERIES REPORT 2011 EXTRACTS & LINK

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The BMMRO has recently published its Fisheries Report for 2011. The report is comprehensive and covers a far larger area than the waters around Abaco. Extracts are shown below (thanks as alway to Charlotte Dunn for use permission). The full report can be seen in pdf form at BMMRO FISHERIES REPORT

1. First, here is the table of all field data for the 2011 season, from which the incidence of the particular cetacean types can easily be seen. To a layman (me), the most significant reading on the previous year is the increase in sperm whale sightings and animal numbers, up from 14 / 69 in 2010 to 38 / 148 in 2011. I wonder why the difference?

2.  Here are results specifically relating to South Abaco, where the majority of cetacean activity is observed (see ‘green’ map). I have included a larger image of the cetacean species so that the key is easier to read

ABACO WHALE, DOLPHIN & MANATEE SIGHTINGS JANUARY 2012

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ABACO CETACEANS AND SIRENIANS                                        BMMRO SIGHTING REPORTS JANUARY 2012

For the second month in succession MANATEES have been seen in the area: again in the Berry Is region, and additionally off Grand Bahama. With luck they will now be a fixture on the BMMRO monthly sightings map. The main reported Abaco activity, including a sperm whale, was on the ocean side of Elbow Cay. Thanks to Charlotte Dunn / BMMRO for permission to use their material