azwhales
Today was another day for the Orcas (and for us!). We have been lucky to see them a second time this week!
Today we were with a pod of a big adult male and some small juveniles. They seemed to be moving calmly and diving regularly into the very rough and strong waves. Particularly the male was moving calmly and close to the boat with its tall dark dorsal fin surfacing first.
Did you know that Orcas – just like pilot whales – are known to stay in matrilineal groups? This means the small groups are led by older females that will pass specific behaviours to the younger generations in the family. Unfortunately, our sightings of orcas are not so frequent, so it is quite difficult to confirm this fact for the individuals that we sight in our waters. The group that we encountered today was most likely the same pod that we sighted two days ago. So, it looks like they are hanging around São Miguel for a bit!
More offshore we found a giant aggregation of common dolphins foraging among the Cory’s shearwaters. They were socializing with loud whistles that we could even hear them from the upper level of cetus, our catamaran. Also, lots of mating was going on. This group had lots of juveniles and some small calves. It was a great sighting to finish our morning surrounded by birds and dolphins until the horizon.
azwhales
Equipa de Biólogos da Futurismo
Sandrina Rodrigues
