Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Drippy-Nose's 2001 calf #3123 seen entangled

The 2001 female calf of Drippy-nose, AKA Sonnet, #3123, was photographed by the Center for Coastal Studies in Provinceton, MA on April 29, 2011.  Recently during analysis of the photos, they realized that the whale had what appeared to be red material near the right side of the mouth or the flipper.  Although the whale had been seen two other times in the previous month, this area of the whale was not observed.  It was very difficult to see the entanglement and the recommendation is to monitor the whale.

This female had her first calf over a year ago.  Calves usually stay with their mothers for a year before separating.  It would have been expected that her calf went its own way this winter.  She was seen by Quoddy Link Marine October 12, 2010 in the Bay of Fundy.  Her calf was Kleenex's fifth grand calf.