One fin at a time

 

 

Well, they're not great photos, but it still seems worthwhile to share this Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) sighting from Bodega Head today (12 January 2022).  A few individuals swam by heading south at ~10 a.m. this morning.  

 

Larry mentioned others have been seen in the area recently, and Bill reported that a group was observed at Sea Ranch today, so it's worth keeping an eye out for them.

 

 

Dolphin days of summer?

It was another hot day, so we decided to linger at the coast after work to try to avoid some of the higher temperatures inland.  With a little extra time, I decided it might be a good evening for dolphin spotting.  The ocean has been flat calm recently — good conditions for spotting dolphins near shore.

Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) aren't easy to predict in the Bodega Bay area, and I wasn't certain I'd find any, so I was a little surprised to spot one right away.

The dolphins were a little distant, and they weren't spending a lot of time at the surface, but here are few pictures for the record.  I'm guessing there were at least three different individuals.

This appeared to be an adult (left) and calf (right):

 

Pretty smooth dorsal fin, but noticeable scratches in front of the fin:

 

 

Notched dorsal fin (I'm wondering if Bill will be able to i.d. this individual?):

 

And two shots of dolphins surfacing.  Sure seemed like a good time to be a dolphin!

 

 

P.S. I'll check in with Bill Keener (Cetacean Field Research Program at The Marine Mammal Center) to see if he has any thoughts about the identification of these individuals. 

P.P.S.  I realize the title of this post isn't quite accurate — the "dog days" of summer don't begin until July 3rd, but I couldn't resist the title, especially given the heatwave we've been experiencing.  Stay cool!

Spirited

As we approached Salmon Creek Beach tonight for a short walk, Eric said casually, "I wonder what happened to those dolphins we saw in the fall?"

The very next moment I looked up and said surprisingly, "There they are!"

 

Last September we felt very lucky to watch a group of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) off Salmon Creek Beach (see post from 21 September 2014), and now we had a chance to observe them again.  Although I'm not certain yet that these are the same individuals, we might be able to tell after analyzing the pictures.

There were at least three dolphins tonight, and probably four.  For the record, here are two images showing three individuals.  Although Eric and I both felt there might have been four dolphins present, I never photographed four at once.

 

 

At least one of these dolphins was a small calf or juvenile.  Its pale gray coloration was noticeable, even from a distance.  And so was its behavior — surfing the waves, leaping out the backside of the waves, jumping completely out of the water, sometimes re-entering the water upside down, and swimming sideways next to an adult.  Although they were distant, I can't help but show a sampling of these images so that you can get a feel for the spirit and energy of this young dolphin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has anyone else seen these dolphins around recently?  With the warm water temperatures, I wouldn't be surprised, but it would be valuable to keep track of any local observations.