News from Afield
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2018 / 04 / 20
Seals by the hundreds, seabird numbers on the rise and belugas between island and mountains
Our collaborator from Pointe-des-Monts confirms: “no whales in sight, but there were “sea wolves” by the ton!” speaking of his observations from last weekend (April 14-15). His...
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2018 / 04 / 13
Silhouettes of All Colours
April 11: Young grays and white adults are scattered around the mouth of the Saguenay Fjord. “At last,” sighs one employee of the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM)...
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2018 / 04 / 13
Belugas: First Carcass for 2018 and Recap of 2017
On March 26, the first beluga carcass of 2018 was reported to 1-877-7baleine at Coin-du-Banc in the Gaspé Peninsula. The carcass was whole, but in a state of advanced decomposition, as is often the...
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2018 / 04 / 04
It’s snowing on the whales!
The most recent snowfalls this past week give the impression that winter will never end and that spring is reluctant to make its first appearance. This may be the case on dry land, but out at sea, the...
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2018 / 03 / 30
First Spring Visitors
Sunny skies and rising temperatures are bringing joy and marking the return of the whales! On March 23, in the Sept-Îles area, Jacques Gélineau, a collaborator from INREST, spotted three large spout...
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2018 / 03 / 26
A New Fur Coat Every Year
This week’s observations revolve around seals! In Franquelin and Tadoussac, just one harp seal and one gray seal are seen, respectively, while in Gaspé, hundreds of gray seals are discovered ne...
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2018 / 03 / 12
Are seals “chatterboxes”?
Before tackling this question, here are a few tidbits regarding our St. Lawrence whales. Between 30 and 50 belugas were seen swimming off Les Bergeronnes on February 27: mainly white individuals accom...
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2018 / 01 / 19
Amphibious Mammals along the North Shore
The lives of seals are split between the sea and the land. Excellent swimmers, they hunt their prey under water with ease. They are built to purpose: streamlined body, webbed feet, absence of external...
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2018 / 01 / 11
White Spouts in a White Landscape
On the afternoon of January 8, an observer is driving down the “Whale Route” toward Sept-Îles. Upon her arrival at Godbout, at the confluence of the river of the same name, she parks her ...
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2018 / 01 / 09
The humpbacks of Mazatlan… by René Roy
Thursday, January 4, 2018: while a weather bomb is pummelling Quebec, I have an appointment at 7:30 in the morning with Oscar Guzon of Onca Explorations in Mazatlan, on the Pacific coast of Mexico. I ...