2007 Life at Campo Cortez
By Caroline Armon
March 20, 2007
Happy Spring! These longer days of light are warming our afternoons. Wind is always our companion here at the lagoon, so I did have to pull on the socks and sweatshirt again for a few cooler nights and mornings. The coyotes were right! Their yelps predicted a change in weather; indeed we had a shift in more wind and from a constant westerly direction. The usual pattern is wind from the north in the morning, no wind at noon, from offshore - out of the west in the afternoon, no wind at sunset, then back to a northerly land breeze sometime in the night. I also learned crickets chirping predicts temperature by how fast they are chirping! The faster they chirp, the warmer it is going to be! So if I hear the crickets at night and wake up to a dewy morning, I know it’s going to be hot!
I think I said in my last missive that there was no more mating activity. Well we saw a mating group of 4; 1 female with 3 males, on March 14. Two of the males were juveniles, so I wonder were they learning and practicing?! If you remember my reports from last season, mating activity went on well into March, which is unusual, and I wondered if there would be more calves this year. I have received one report from a marine biologist that said, yes, the calf counts have increased this year.
Our counts here in the lagoon are down this year, although the interaction is more frequent than last year. The last census, March 15, showed 15 pairs of moms with calves, plus 14 singles, for a total of 44 whales. I really question these numbers, as I believe the count was done on a minus low tide, when many whales were outside the lagoon in an outer, open bay called Bahia de Ballena (whale bay – of course!). We also missed our peak- highest numbers since there was no census taken between Feb. 22 and Mar. 10 due to those high winds, and trying to coordinate with the camp drivers and boats. Just yesterday, we ventured into the mighty Pacific Ocean to observe more than 20 pairs of moms with calves. We were lucky enough to be approached by a very friendly, playful, dancing, rolling female calf! We helped her out by picking some lice out of her baleen!
Along with our whale watching - interacting trips, we have enjoyed going into the mangroves to see the variety of local and migratory birds. This lagoon is a nursery for not only the gray whale, but also the eel grass beds and mangroves provide habitat for fish and invertebrates; which attract the birds, dolphins, turtles, and the occasional California sea lion. I just returned from a visit to “shell beach” on the other side of the lagoon from our camp, first visit this year. The winds and tides have uncovered all the beautiful shells that were buried under sand last year. This is where we see intact sand dollars, wavy turban shells, and many other opalescent specimens.
The calves are definitely bigger and agile now. The moms are comfortable, giving the calves some distance and room to frolic. With the new moon and spring equinox, we have had a series of minus low tides, which means we do find more whales at the mouth and outside the lagoon. Each day I am aware for some of them it may be the day to start their northward journey… Maldo and I agree we are seeing some new whales; ones stopping here from Magdelena Bay to the south of us. I am feeling the pull to head north myself, although I have a month to go, I know the days pass fast, it feels bittersweet. Especially to see the whales I have come to know through repeated contact head into the big blue unknown, so I am soaking up the moments…Here’s one of my random thoughts: what if the whales perception of us is that we are sea monsters (consider whaling), and they are taming us???
Carolina
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