Minke Whale Shows Partial Tail Fluke
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:


And here are the scientists from Oregon State University in action:

Risso's Dolphins in Santa Barbara Channel
A pod of about 50 Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) were active in the Santa Barbara Channel yesterday. They seemed content to casually hang around our boat for a while and there was also a small group of Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) traveling along with them. At first glance, one of the Risso's appeared to have a dolphin slipstreaming alongside her, but as it turns out, it was a Risso's calf that was probably close to being a newborn. Here are a few photos:


Mother and calf (calf is on left, very small):


Dorsal fin of a Risso's dolphin (this scarring is the result of the teeth of other Risso's; all of the Risso's have this type of scarring):


And some other marine mammals spotted along the way--a California sea lion who was bowriding right along with a large pod of common dolphins: