Michael Pierson, a naturalist with the non-profit ecotourism organization Oceanic Society, has made many trips from the San Francisco shore to the Farallon Islands during peak whale watching season.

But on May 7, he decided to deviate from the usual course.

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The post Two dozen killer whales noticed celebrating a hunt off the San Francisco coast | Ap appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Gray whales have begun their winter migration along the California coast and offer Bay Area residents numerous opportunities to observe the majestic marine mammals for the next several months.

There’s just one catch: perhaps the best onshore location to see the migrating whales is closed for construction.

The historic lighthouse and observation deck at the westernmost tip of Point Reyes National Seashore – known among whale enthusiasts and amateurs as the best vantage point for spotting whales rounding the Bay Area waters – are banned because Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is one Major is going through overhaul.

Despite the closure, there are plenty of other places to spot the whales on their southern streak from the arctic waters of Alaska to the shallow lagoons of Baja California, said Carlo Arreglo, a park ranger at Point Reyes.

“This is the time of year to see these charismatic superstar mammals,” he said.

From Bodega Head to Muir Beach Overlook and Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands, the north coast offers numerous elevated vantage points. Within the city limits, Fort Funston and the Lands End Lookout have good ocean views to spot spouts.

To the south, the parking lots on either side of the Devil’s Slide Trail provide accessible whale watching. The beaches at Point Reyes have less visibility, but visitors can peek at some spills – and see giant elephant seals in their winter mating season.

Hundreds of gray whales pass through the Bay Area every day at the height of the south migration in January. Pregnant whales, due to give birth in the warm waters of the Baja, are the first to migrate, followed by thousands more in pods of two to five individuals. In spring, the whales begin their journey back to Alaska with their newborn calves.

Elevated lookouts offer the best chance of spotting whales in the water. Bodega Head and Point Reyes are good bets as the whales use the protruding geography to navigate the coast, but the whales are visible from other coastal areas as well.

First, said Arreglo, scan the ocean for clouds of steam – these are the whales that exhale when they emerge for breath. The blowhole is the first part of the body to rise out of the water, followed by the back and tail as the whale dives beneath the surface in one graceful motion.

“Bring binoculars, it’ll help,” said Bill Keener, a whale researcher at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito.

While whale runs can be spotted at any time of the day, Keener prefers to set off in the morning hours when the sun is angled off the water. Direct sunlight can make the whales difficult to spot.

The fact that gray whales can still be seen on the California coast – let alone in their thousands – is a small miracle, according to experts. The 40-ton marine mammals were near endangered by the 1930s, but their numbers began to recover with the decline in commercial whaling. Gray whales are now protected by international protection measures.

“California is one of the few places in the world where you can see multiple species of whales,” said Keener. “It’s an amazing wildlife opportunity right off our coast.”

Some local families have turned to whale watching, said Nancy Black, a marine biologist who runs the Monterey Bay Whale Watch. The company has done tours at half capacity, wiped surfaces, and practiced social distancing.

“It’s great – people usually get bored at home,” said Black.

Black noted that whale migration began a few weeks later that year, a trend she believes was due to climate change. Scientists studying gray whales say the warming of the arctic waters could change the whales’ feeding and migration habits. Climate change has also been cited as a possible culprit for the mass extinction, which resulted in an unusually high number of whale victims last year when more than a dozen carcasses washed up on the shores of the Bay Area.

Boats pass each other near Bodega Head in Bodega Bay, California on Wednesday, December 23, 2020. Bodega Head is a popular place for whale watching.Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Changed marine ecosystems worry Keener and his colleagues at the Marine Mammal Center. The harmful algae that thrive in warmer waters could pose problems for all marine life, he said, not just gray whales. Therefore, he feels compelled to raise awareness about the whales in order to protect them from future damage.

“These are some of the largest animals that have ever lived on the planet,” he said. “They live a different life than land mammals. They give birth underwater. They have big brains. They have these amazing migrations, ”said Keener.

Arreglo is also impressed by the mysterious mammals that live mostly invisible under the sea surface and pass giants that endure even though humans have hunted them almost to extinction.

“These massive creatures have a sense of mystery,” he said. “There is something to be said to have a secret in our life.”

Nora Mishanec is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NMishanec

If the Point Reyes lighthouse and observation deck are closed, here are 10 alternative locations in the Bay Area where you may be able to catch gray whales that are migrating this season:

Muir Beach overlooks the Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands

Mori Point in Pacifica

Fort Funston in San Francisco

Devil’s Slide Trail off Highway 1 between Pacifica and Montara

Bodega Depart from Bodega Bay on the Sonoma County coast

Limantour Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore

Drakes Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore

North Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore

Lands End Lookout in San Francisco

See morecollapse

The post With traditional lookouts closed, listed here are the most effective Bay Space spots to catch migrating grey whales appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Four dead gray whales washed ashore on the beaches of San Francisco Bay in nine days. Experts announced that two of the giant aquatic mammals have died from ship attacks and the other two are under investigation on Saturday.

Biologists from the nonprofit Marine Mammal Center in California said in a press release Saturday that two dead whales washed ashore in the Bay Area on Thursday, joining two more whales discovered dead on the area’s beaches since March 31 were.

Of the four animals, two died of blunt violent trauma from ship attacks, the center said.

“It is alarming to be responding to four dead gray whales in just over a week as it really puts the current challenges facing these species into perspective,” said Padraig Duignan, director of pathology at the center, in a press release.

Other common causes of gray whale death include starvation and complications from entanglement in deep-sea fishing nets and other equipment, the center said.

Biologists from the California Academy of Sciences came to the center’s experts to perform the autopsies.

Climate change can affect water temperatures, which affects the availability of food for the whales. These can grow up to 50 feet long and migrate approximately 10,000 miles each year between foraging areas in the cold waters of the North Pacific and breeding areas in warm water lagoons on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

The species is not currently considered endangered, but is protected by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Department keeps track of whale populations. The last published study in 2016 found a population of 27,000 gray whales. Data from a 2020 study is still being analyzed, according to the NOAA website.

Reporting from Rich McKay in Atlanta; Adaptation by Andrea Ricci

The post Ship Strikes Kill Grey Whales In San Francisco Bay appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In an unusual spate of gray whale deaths, another animal was found in San Francisco Bay, this time on Muir Beach Thursday morning.

April marks the beginning of the gray whale’s north migration. So it’s not uncommon to find dead whales on the shores of the bay, but four in nine days is an anomaly.

“It’s about that,” says Giancarlo Rulli of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. “The fact that we responded to four gray whales dead … is worrying.”

The first was a 41-foot adult female gray whale that alerted beach goers at Crissy Field on March 31. This animal was dragged to Angel Island for an autopsy. The cause of death was unclear – pathologists from the Marine Mammal Center determined the whale was in good condition, no diseases were found, and in fact the whale had a full stomach from recent feeding, which ruled out starvation or malnutrition.

The second, another adult female, was found Saturday at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach. “We suspect that the cause of this animal’s death was a ship strike,” says Rulli. “Our plan is to come back to this whale at some point and take more samples.”

A third dead gray whale was found at Berkeley Marina this week after moving around the bay during changing tides. This animal was also towed to Angel Island and is currently being inspected near the remains of the first animal.

“Our team is currently divided into two parts,” says Rulli, as pathologists examine and sample both animals at Muir Beach and Angel Island.

There was also an increase in dead gray whales around the waters of San Francisco in 2019, despite half of the causes of death for these animals being classified as malnutrition, a cause that has not yet been clarified for any of the four whales this week.

“These studies are so critical that we can find out why these animals wash ashore dead and how we can live together safely in their ocean home,” says Rulli. “This is an unusual death event for gray whales. In the past two years, an increasing number of dead whales have washed ashore.”

Human interaction, usually in the form of a ship strike or entanglement, is a common cause of whale deaths, although only one of the four was pronounced dead that week as a result of that trauma.

The deaths have resulted in the Marine Mammal Center facing one of the busiest times due to COVID-19 while prioritizing human health and safety.

“Because of the pandemic, we’re using smaller teams than normal, and that’s more than 40-foot whales. These surveys take hours,” says Rulli. “It can take some time to find out what happens.”

The increased deaths aren’t the only unusual whale activity in San Francisco Bay this year. In mid-March, a hump was discovered near Tiburon, something that had never happened so early in the year before.

The center encourages all residents of the bay who discover more dead (or live) whales to report the sighting to the Marine Mammal Center immediately.

“The data and research are so critical that we can rule out or rule out the cause of human interaction,” said Rulli.

The cause of death of the last two whales is expected to be reported on Friday.

SFGATE reporter Joshua Bote contributed to this story.

The post four lifeless whales now discovered round San Francisco Bay in 9 days. This is what we all know. appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.