And Away We Go! – Georgia Wildlife Blog

Calving season for North Atlantic right whales has started with a splash.

Sunday, Dec. 1, was the first day of DNR’s winter surveys. Sea conditions were marginal so our boat-based team was on standby. The agency’s aerial survey team, contracted through Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, took off about noon.

Nauset’s calf stays close to mom in this view by drone (DNR/NOAA permit 26919)

On the way to the first survey transect off Savannah, the team spotted a mom-and-calf pair not far from Blackbeard Island. While we mobilized, they collaborated with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission right whale team and identified the mom as right whale No. 2413 (nicknamed Nauset). They also determined that the calf was old enough to be biopsied.

We were able to relocate the pair by that afternoon — they were still off Blackbeard Island, or almost 5 nautical miles off Sapelo Island — and successfully biopsy the calf. (For more on why we biopsy calves, see this post from last winter.)

According to the North Atlantic right whale catalog, curated by the New England Aquarium curates, Nauset is 31 years old and this is her fifth documented calf. She’s named after Nauset Light, a restored Cape Cod lighthouse, because the front section of her callosity pattern resembles a lighthouse.

But Nauset may not be the season’s only right whale mother so far. Three potential moms — catalog Nos. 3540 (Black Heart), 3940 (Koala) and 4190 (Curlew) — were seen during plane surveys off the Carolinas between Nov. 20 and Nov. 25. Also on Nov. 24, a boater reported right whales off Cape Romain in S.C. Photographs from that sighting show a mother and calf, although the images don’t provide enough detail to identify the adult.

The Facebook post below by Florida FWC also notes that the 20-year-old Blackheart had her only calf 12 years ago. Both Koala and Curlew, ages 16 and 14, respectively, have not calved.

When boating off the coast of Georgia, northeast Florida and the Carolinas from November to April, please follow guidelines for navigating in right whale waters. For recreational boaters, here’s a flyer listing specific recommendations.