{"id":47864,"date":"2020-01-05T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T18:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/?p=47864"},"modified":"2020-01-29T19:15:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T20:15:24","slug":"sightings-statistics-december-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/sightings-statistics-december-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sightings Statistics December 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although we did not have many trips in December, we had a range of some surprising species. In between the storms we had 7 morning trips, and saw 7 different species! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cetaceans<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We saw the sperm whales<\/a>, common dolphins<\/a> and to our surprise we saw Atlantic spotted dolphins<\/a>, all on 66.7% of our trips! Our resident species are the sperm whales and common dolphins, so these were usual for the time of the year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spotted dolphins, however, only stay around the Azores when the water temperature is warm enough for them, which is about 20 degrees Celsius. This usually decrease towards the end of October or November, and this is when the spotted dolphins start to migrate towards warmer waters in the South. This year, seeing so many spotted dolphins in December was unusual! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other unusual species that we saw this time of the year were the humpback whales<\/a> and the fin whales<\/a>, which we saw on 11% of our trips. The baleen whale species are generally seen in the Spring time when they migrate north, and their general migratory pattern is towards the South around the autumn\/winter time, towards the breeding grounds. However, this is not black and white, and we don\u2019t see baleen whales often in December. So, it seemed as if these species we a little out of place.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we saw the bottlenose dolphins<\/a> on 33% of the trips, and the Risso\u2019s dolphins<\/a> 11% of the trips. These species are both residents in the Azores and can be seen throughout the whole year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another migratory species seen in the beginning of December (all the way until the 13th<\/sup> of December) was the Cory\u2019s shearwater<\/a>. These seabirds come to the Azores in the springtime to breed and head back to the sea towards the end of October. They, too, stayed in the Azores longer than usual. Perhaps the climate had an effect on their migratory patterns. We observed large flocks of Cory\u2019s- and Great shearwaters<\/a> with a lot of spotted dolphins foraging. We even saw large tuna\u2019s in these feeding frenzy\u2019s, so perhaps the migratory species stayed in the area because of the prey availability. Climate and water temperature could have affected this too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cetaceans<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All in all, December was a pleasantly surprising month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although we did not have many trips in December, we had a range of some surprising species. 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