While looking for Blue whales in the Santa Barbara Channel this past weekend, we came across what appeared to be a young Minke whale who was interacting with a California sea lion. It was interesting behavior and before one of its dives it rolled on its side and then showed us a partial tail fluke--pretty unusual behavior for a Minke whale. Here's a video clip of the action:
We also spotted at least 10 Blue whales and witnessed a team of scientists tagging the Blue whales with transmitters to monitor location. Note the small yellow/white tag on top of this Blue whale:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZcmeQq2sirwnryDUX9LQHtb7AgnElYcBk2WL4EvBs-cPSLPb5PakM08qkeUm4p0pbNLS1BTvY5QpjhUfYBDER9aOzXa6tIwYx1Sx0hBjLqMAJavhyphenhyphenmnXLOfOz4KQcWgZ7O16/s320/blue+whale+with+tag.jpg)
And here are the scientists from Oregon State University in action:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhhTOihj5hzdphpcYL8JfmwOIVpmrUEvro4ANNMlK4jMBQeNEpFOVPgUHmHv34qH9AiBUh9aICAN5HpMY3bPCDlGONHp3xZegohxgUdLxfzNrr0HMT8RH58WKv6sIXSZtdxoL9/s320/blue+whale+researchers+from+oregon+state+univ.jpg)