azwhales
In the morning we caught a large group of common dolphins! The waves were a bit rough today but this did not bother the dolphins at all, they were surfing the waves and traveling.
Afterwards we managed to find a group of Atlantic spotted dolphins with calves! They, too, were frolicking in the waves and we even saw one spinning in the air, almost like the spinner dolphins! Spotted dolphins in this area don’t usually jump and spin on their own axis like they did today. It was quite a nice sight! The dolphins were curious as well so we managed to see them really well.
In the afternoon the clouds over the island where a bit higher and the lookout saw a bit more and they managed to find sperm whales for us. We also used our hydrophone and we heard them too, so we knew where to go thanks to two different sources. We could observe first one individual on its own going for a deep-sea dive and later a second one doing the same but suddenly more blows appeared in the area and we saw 7 more. One group of 3 adults with a tiny newborn and another group of 3 a bit further away. Twice we could see part of the head with its lower jaw above the water surface and tips of flukes while one rolled around. Also, the silhouettes and the paler underside were visible through the water while they were under the water but close to the surface.
Sadly, today we sighted a dead beaked whale. This is a tragic event to such a delicate and rare species to sight in the Azores.
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
