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| Photo of whale watchers at Depoe Bay, by Emily Leiper. |
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Kids’ questions giving you a migration migraine?
Find the answers, at the Whale Watch Center
[Posted March 16, 2010]
By Niki Price
Oregon Coast TODAY
For a parent of an inquisitive child, a long drive is like a television quiz show. The host is in the back seat, reading from a thick set of invisible cue cards, asking question after question. The contestant thinks and fumbles through, wishing that an Encyclopedia Britannica had been packed in the car’s emergency kit.
What makes gum stretchy? Is it easier to drive at sea level? Which state was first? Who’s Monica Lewinsky? What’s plasma? Is it healthier to eat flies or worms?
And this time of year, when thousands of gray whales are migrating north off the Oregon coast, the quizmaster is probably thinking cetaceans. Where are they going? What do they eat? How big are the babies?
If you’re out of answers, don’t give up. Point the car towards Depoe Bay, where Oregon State Park rangers like Morris Grover have heard every question there is. Tell Alex — or whatever your child’s name is — that you’ll take the Depoe Bay Whale Watch Watching Center, for free.
There’s no admission fee at this Oregon State Park, perched on the seawall just north of the historic Depoe Bay Bridge. Inside, you’ll find whale photos, movies, books, exhibits, illustrations and even whale bones. You can touch a piece of baleen, feel a sample of skin and even adopt a whale, with a donation to the conservation cause. You can borrow binoculars and gaze through tinted windows, as you look for the telltale blows on the horizon.
Best of all, you can approach a state park ranger or volunteer host, and simply fire away. They’re trained to know the answers to hundreds of questions; and if they don’t, there are notebooks, reference guides and other tools at their disposal. It’s all part of the state’s effort to explain the natural phenomenon that takes place right offshore: the migration of the Pacific gray whale.
In addition to offering educational exhibits throughout the year, the DB Whale Watching Center is headquarters for the Whale Watching Spoken Here volunteer program. This program trains amateur naturalists to serve as whale-spotting interpreters, and places them at 26 overlooks from Ilwaco, Wash., south to Crescent City, Calif., during peak weeks in the whales’ migration. During the spring Whale Watch Week, March 20 through 27, the volunteers will be on duty daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (to find one, look for the wooden “Whale Watching Spoken Here” signs on the highway, or see map on facing page).
There are common questions, of course, such as “Why are they here?” and “What do they eat?” (They’re heading north to return to their feeding grounds, and tiny ocean creatures like amphipods and mysid shrimp). “How do they know it’s time to migrate?” They’re led by females, who know when their babies are ready to travel to colder waters. “How big are they?” They’re 45 feet long and weigh 35 tons.
Visitors are always curious about the numbers of sightings. Grover, his staff and volunteers keep a running tally at the center, and also online at whalespoken.org. During the 2009 Spring Whale Watch Week, 156 sightings were recorded at the center, and 2,130 at the 26 overlook locations combined.
The numbers are more dependent on the weather than the number of whales passing by, Grover said. That’s why 2010, which has already seen several weeks of clear skies and flat seas, has been great so far. The rangers noticed saw the northern migration begin in late February, and have spotted 130 whales between March 1 and March 13. If the El Nino weather pattern holds, and the waters stay calm and warm, the Spring Whale Watch Week may be a record-buster.
If so, Grover will be answering questions all day long — from the very easy to the extremely difficult. You can test your knowledge, if you like (see the Cetacean Quiz, below).
But no matter what the question, the Depoe Bay Whale Watchers are ready with an answer. Except for that one about Miss Lewinsky. Back to you, Alex.
Maps of the “Whale Watching Spoken Here” viewpoints, information on charter boat and airplane tours, and tips are online at whalespoken.org.
• Whale Research Excursions, 541-912-6734 and whaleresearchexcursions.com
• Dockside Charters, 541-765-2545 or docksidedepoebay.com
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| Capt. Tate, of Dockside Charters, piloting his Zodiac into Whale Cove, south of Depoe Bay. |
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Cetaceous Quiz
Test your whale knowledge:
True or False
1. Gray whales travel in pods.
2. Water sprays out of a whale’s blow hole.
3. We only see gray whales during winter or spring.
4. We have resident gray whales in Oregon waters.
5. The whale’s full name is “California Gray Whale.”
6. Gray whales eat fish.
7. Orcas are whales.
8. Killer whales eat whales.
9. We don’t see humpback whales on the Oregon coast.
Answers
1. FALSE. Pod means family and gray whales are solitary animals. During migration, 19,000 whales are passing by, and sheer numbers will put them close together. During summer feeding, when the food is plentiful, they will feed in the same areas. And when feeling romantic, there may be multiple whales vying for a female’s attention. But this is temporary. Even a mother and calf will only stay together seven to eight months.
2. FALSE. Whales’ lungs are connected to their nose (blowhole) but not their mouth. They cannot blow water out of their blow hole. Some whales start to exhale before they reach the surface, blowing through the water and causing a visible water spray. Gray whales’ lungs are the size of two chest freezers, and they empty them in a fraction of a second, causing visible condensation – like our breath in winter.
3. FALSE. We actually see whales every month of the year along the Oregon coast.
4. FALSE. There is an urban legend of resident whales in Oregon waters, but all the whales on our coast migrate. They do it to find warm, calm waters for giving birth. Calves are born without the insulating blubber layer, and if born in our cold waters they will die from hypothermia.
5. FALSE. The gray whale’s official name is “Eastern Pacific Gray Whale.” We don’t usually use the “Eastern,” and refer to them as Pacific gray whales.
6. FALSE, USUALLY. A gray whale’s throat is only the size of a grapefruit, obviously limiting what it can swallow. Their usual food is amphipods, found in the mud on the sea floor, or mysid shrimp, found in the water column in rocky areas. Both are no bigger than mosquitoes, and whales must eat a ton a day. But they are opportunistic feeders, and have been known to eat crab larvae and small fish.
7. FALSE. Orca’s common name of “killer whale” is really “killer of whales.” We got lazy and quit saying the “of,” and turned them into whales. Orcas are technically the largest dolphins.
8. TRUE. The favorite food of the transient orca, aka the killer whale, is baby whales. If they cannot get a baby whale, they will hunt sea lions and seals. There is a different type of orca, found in the Puget Sound, which is called a “resident.” They are fish eaters.
FALSE. There are about 1,100 humpback whales that migrate past Oregon, at the same time as the grays. There are also humpbacks that feed along the coast, but their food is found eight miles (or more) off shore. They are often seen by fishing boats, but not usually from shore locations.
Courtesy of Morris Grover, volunteer coordinator of the Whale Watching Spoken Here program. For more answers, drop by the Depoe Bay Whale Watch State Park, call 541-765-3407, or head to whalespoken.org.
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