Making things even more exciting, two humpback whales have decided to travel up the Sacramento River to join the residents of Davis in their festivities and chat with the Governator.
When whales travel this far (90+ miles) from the ocean, it is usually a sign of trouble. Rumors abound contemplating reasons for their plight. They were spotted this past weekend. Another AP photo:
Scientists unsuccessfully tried to lure them back towards the ocean today by broadcasting (aquacasting?) feeding-whale noises. [The noises failed to motivate the whales to move downriver. (Fri. 8AM)]
As we heard the depressing reports of the whales' journey, it led me to think about the waterways in our area. Most of you know that I (Leigh) am a map nut, so here are some images showing the route that the whales would have taken to reach as far inland as Sacramento.
Satellite image showing Davis to Folsom (almost the foothills of the Sierra Mountains):
Satellite photo of the Bay Area and inland to the mountains. Much of the Sacramento River delta can be seen in this image:
There is no food in the murky river for the humpbacks. Although these whales can apparently survive in fresh water for over a month, they have only a small supply of blubber for nourishment and the trip back to the Pacific is a long one. We hope for their safe return to their salty home soon.UPDATE from the AP (Sunday May 20, 2007 AM):
[The whales] have hit a dead-end after traveling 90 miles through San Francisco Bay and up the Sacramento River. But Carrie Wilson, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, said experts are content with the animals remaining in the isolated port area for the weekend since heavy recreational boat traffic in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could complicate rescue efforts. The whales swam in peace with the help of a Coast Guard escort Saturday. The Coast Guard enforced a 500-yard safety zone around the whales and authorities closed the north port channel and a nearby public boat ramp for the weekend. "Of course, if they start moving, we're ready to mobilize," Wilson said. A marine mammal rescue crew plans to resume efforts Monday to lure the pair by playing recorded sounds of other humpbacks feeding. If scientists have not made progress by Tuesday, they plan to begin herding the animals down river with a gauntlet of 50 boats that would provide a less pleasing underwater soundtrack of banging on pipes.
UPDATE (Sunday May 20, 2007 PM):
Although Andrew adamantly refused, I could resist no longer and drove the 8 miles to West Sacramento's Port. When I pulled into the Port, the gates were closed and we were told that the whales had begun to head South! YAY!!
From NBC: WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Hundreds of people lining the shoreline around the Port of Sacramento Sunday for the most popular show in town -- watching two wayward humpback whales circle the port -- had a nice surprise on Sunday afternoon. The whales began following two tugboats that are headed out of the port and toward the Pacific Ocean. As of Sunday afternoon, the whales had moved about five miles closer to the ocean.
UPDATE (Wednesday May 23, 2007 PM):
Things are not looking good for our Humpback friends.
from NBC: RIO VISTA, Calif. -- The rescue effort Tuesday centered around a flotilla of boats that attempted to herd the whales back to the Rio Vista Bridge by using hammers to bang on pipes. The underwater sound did move the whales, but not past the bridge. Hope dimmed Wednesday for two lost, wounded whales as scientists spotted the humpbacks wildly slapping their tails on the water in possible distress as they lingered far from their ocean home. Deep cuts on the mother whale and her calf, likely caused by a run-in with a boat, were worsening after more than a week in freshwater surroundings that the pair were not physically equipped to inhabit, biologists said. Marine mammal experts started their attempt to herd the animals back toward the Pacific Ocean before 8 a.m. because the added health concerns.
UPDATE (Friday, May 25, 2007 PM)
UPDATE (Sunday May 27, 2007 PM)
From the AP:
More than two weeks after the whales were first spotted in fresh water, the giant mammals continued to circle in the river. Their once smooth, shiny skin has become dull and rough, and tissue around the gashes likely inflicted by a run-in with a boat was starting to die off, biologists said. . . As the mother and calf tarried near the Rio Vista Bridge, their health deteriorated. "The loss of any single animal would be bad. The loss of a breeding animal and her calf would be a substantial biological punch," said Brian Gorman, a NOAA spokesman. "To ignore the plight of such iconic animals as humpback whales in such a public place would be unthinkable."
UPDATE (Monday May 28, 2007 PM)From the AP:
The mother humpback whale and her calf were seen Monday morning near the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, about 45 miles from the Pacific, said Carol Singleton of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Sightseers swarmed the waterfront near the bridge to catch a glimpse as the U.S. Coast Guard tried to maintain a 500-yard safety zone around the whales. About 100 boats surrounded the pair, and Coast Guard crews hauled several swimmers out of the water as they tried to approach the whales, Lt. Larry Curran said. Biologists hope that getting the whales into more brackish water after more than two weeks in the river could help ease the physical strain they have suffered from long exposure to fresh water. Scientists were particularly concerned about lesions that have appeared on the humpbacks' skin over the weekend, and they were awaiting test results from skin samples to determine the cause. The humpbacks' long exposure to fresh water has led to serious skin damage, making them vulnerable to germs they would not face in their native saltwater habitat. Despite the pair's health problems, officials did not plan to take any action to prod them toward the Golden Gate Bridge. They also said they could not predict whether the whales would move again. "It's still anybody's guess. The whales are going to decide what they're going to do and how they're going to do it," said Bernadette Fees, deputy director of the California Department of Fish and Game. Scientists acknowledged they had little idea why the whales started moving again around 2 p.m. Sunday, which was around the same time of their equally mysterious departure from the port exactly a week earlier. Both whales have gashes - likely suffered from a run-in with a boat's keel - that have also worsened during their river stay. But veterinarians believe antibiotics injected into the whales Saturday could slow the damage, and scientist were ready to administer a second dose. The calf also appears to be more active, which is an encouraging sign, they said.
UPDATE (Thursday May 31, 2007)
From the AP: The whales have returned to the Pacific!!
After spending more than two weeks trying to coax the whales back to sea with mixed results, officials were ready Wednesday to declare Operation Humpback a success. Since the previously conspicuous whales had not been seen for a full day, officials assumed the duo found their way home, undoing a wrong turn that inspired a range of rescue attempts. The whales, believed to be a mother and calf, were last observed at sunset Tuesday swimming in San Francisco Bay about 10 miles north of the city. A convoy of boats that accompanied the whales across the bay to keep traffic at a distance stopped escorting them when it got dark. Officials think the whales slipped out of San Francisco Bay to the open sea late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, when no one was watching. To make sure the whales did not take another wrong turn, two government boats were launched Wednesday morning to look for them in the Pacific Ocean. Rescuers relied on reports from commercial vessels and Coast Guard patrols to determine if the humpbacks still were in the bay. Officials said they will never know why the humpbacks swam 90 miles inland. But their journey marks the first time the same humpbacks were studied in the wild for so long, according to Bernadette Fees, deputy director of the California Department of Fish and Game. It also was the first time that whales swimming free in the wild were successfully treated with antibiotics. The pair apparently were injured by a boat at some point, and officials said their wounds might have played a role in their becoming stranded in the fresh water of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Based on the way their skin deteriorated while they were in the delta, marine scientists now have a clearer idea of how long whales can survive in fresh water, Gulland said. After the whales were spotted near Sacramento on May 13, officials spent days trying to goad them back to the ocean, playing recordings of other whales, surrounding them with boats, blasting them with fire hoses and banging metal pipes dangling beneath the water. Those involved in the rescue effort said they did not know if the methods hastened the whales' exit or hindered it. They tried to strike a balance between getting the whales going and not making the problem worse. "What we ultimately came away with is that many of the techniques had some effect, but none of them could make a whale go in a direction it did not want to go," said John Calambokidis, a scientist with the nonprofit Cascadia Research Collective. Officials speculated Wednesday that antibiotics given to the whales on Saturday to try to heal their wounds may have been a factor in their departure. The pair began their hasty retreat from the delta after receiving them. Biologists said the saltier water where the mother humpback whale and her calf had been swimming since leaving the delta helped reverse some of the health problems caused by long exposure to fresh water.
UPDATE (June 6, 2007) Stray baby whale a female - The Sacramento Bee
It's a girl. History now can safely settle on Dawn -- instead of Don -- for the little whale calf who strayed into the Sacramento River Delta last month, capturing hearts, minds and headlines. That word comes from the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, which is analyzing genetic material in tissue taken from mother and daughter. The samples also offer clues about the humpbacks' behavior, bolstering a theory that they entered the San Francisco Bay deliberately, said Scott Baker, the institute's associate director. At least two distinct groups of humpback whales could stray into the bay -- one population that feasts from spring through fall off Canada or Alaska and another that feeds off California shores. Baker has theorized that Alaska feeders would have to be seriously disoriented to go into the bay, while for California feeders, it might be a normal exploration of the shallows. Delta and Dawn share a type of mitochondrial DNA that's common among California-feeding humpbacks and rare among their more northerly noshing cousins, Baker said. Humphrey, the last humpback known to stray well upriver, was also a member of the California population.
