Magical First Sightings

“I’m blown away by what I’m seeing!” a passionate whale watcher tells me over the phone, who was observing up to eight belugas from her home in Saint-Irénée. These white whales were the very first she had seen thus far this year. At Cap de Bon-Désir, a group of friends shared an unforgettable moment while playing cards on the rocks. “[The belugas] were moving and heading downriver toward Les Escoumins. In total, I’d say there were between 10 and 15 of them,” reports one of the observers, who points out that these small cetaceans were also the first whales ever observed by some of her companions that day. Definitely an exciting moment!

Not far from there, minke whales were also turning heads. One of them was even identified: “The ID’d individual has the code Ba232 and is nicknamed Diabola. It’s a minke whale that has been known since 2016, but hadn’t been documented seen since 2023,” explains a naturalist who collaborates with Mériscope, a research group based in Portneuf-sur-Mer that studies minke whales. Two fin whales also showed up near Les Escoumins, but their identities remain unknown. A river otter was even reportedly spotted near Pointe de l’Islet in Tadoussac.

A blue whale was seen swimming off Pointe-Paradis on April 26. Several large spouts had also been observed in the same area in the preceding days. “I saw two minke whales this week, but no large blows so far,” mentions a resident of Franquelin. Nearly fifty belugas were also seen off Baie-Comeau over the course of several consecutive days. He adds that a fin whale had been observed the previous days by others not far from the shores of Franquelin.

Fin whales are seasonal residents of the St. Lawrence and are generally present between May and November. One well-known individual nicknamed Ti-Croche has frequented the estuary every year since 2016. In 2021 and 2024, a Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) team tagged its back with a satellite transmitter to learn more about the species’ migratory movements. This study revealed that, in 2024, Ti-Croche had travelled down the US coast at least as far as Delaware, at which point the tag stopped transmitting a signal. When will Ti-Croche make its first appearance in the St. Lawrence this year?

On Sunday, April 19, nearly 200 seals had taken up residence in Gaspé Bay. “And the next day, nothing, and they’ve been nowhere to be found ever since!” exclaims an observer from the region. She also notes the presence of about thirty seals near Pointe Saint-Pierre, as well as a solitary pinniped resting on an emergent rock at L’Anse-aux-Cousins.

Special thanks go out to all our observers who share their love for marine mammals with us.