Jan. 29 (Reuters) – The threat of bad weather didn’t stop volunteers on four islands from grabbing their binoculars and logbooks on Saturday to observe and document humpback whale behavior in the first of three coordinated whale censuses in 2023.
The threat of bad weather didn’t stop volunteers on four islands from grabbing their binoculars and logbooks on Saturday to observe and document humpback whale behavior in the first of three coordinated whale censuses in 2023.
A total of 264 volunteers gathered on the shores of Kauai, Oahu and Hawaii Island for the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count, but on Maui, the Pacific Whale Foundation’s Great Whale Count was only able to report one of 12 designated sites due to ongoing, according to a news release heavy rain.
Stormy conditions across the state also impacted several Ocean Count sites, resulting in poor visibility or ending the count early, the National Marine Sanctuary reported.
In total, volunteers collected data from 30 sites. A total of 94 whales were sighted from Kauai during the daily count, including 246 sightings off Oahu and 206 off the island of Hawaii. The total for the only Great Whale Count site on Maui was 41, bringing the statewide total to 587.
Organizers noted that the totals may represent duplicate sightings of the same whale by different observers or at different times or locations throughout the day.
A total of 83 whales were observed during the 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. time period, the most of any time period during the day’s census, the release said. This was also the most active time recorded by Ocean Count volunteers on Kauai, Oahu and the Hawaiian Islands, who recorded 75 whales during that 15-minute span.
For Maui it was the 10:00 to 10:15 time period with nine whale sightings.
Both censuses take place three times a year during peak whale season on the last Saturday in January, February and March. The data collected, combined with other research efforts, may help uncover trends in humpback whale abundance during the winter season, the press release said.
Other species sighted during counts included green sea turtles, or honu; spinner dolphins or naia; and several species of seabirds such as the great frigatebird or iwa; laysan albatross or moli; Pacific golden plover or kolea; wedge-tailed shearwater or uau kani; and white-tailed tropicbird, koae kea.
The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Count, supported by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, promotes public awareness of humpback whales and shore-based whale watching opportunities.