Marine wildlife bounty for may

With the last patches of snow here and there, spring is a welcome transition, but with it come uncertainties every day. We are never quite sure what might be brewing in or outside these dark waters. Sometimes it’s a genuine wildlife parade, while other times the horizon is flat as far as the eye can see.

Yet diligent observers continue to scan the river with the ever-present hope of spotting a shimmering spout, a white back that can no longer be mistaken for an ice floe, or the gleaming face of a seal.

In the evening, at Pointe-de-la-Croix, a woman from Les Escoumins observed “a harbour seal resting on a rock and belugas passing by en route to Petits-Escoumins!” In Tadoussac, we were told of “a nice group of at least 5 or 6 belugas, maybe more, heading down the Saguenay Fjord toward the St. Lawrence! We really missed them here,” exclaims one resident.

On a gorgeous spring morning, a local resident shares with us a wonderful encounter she enjoyed in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. She spotted “four belugas and one calf about 50 metres from shore for a good 20 minutes.”

In Les Escoumins and Les Bergeronnes, another, much more streamlined species is also making waves. For several days, fin whales were observed offshore and sometimes quite close to the coast. From the Tadoussac dunes, a naturalist spotted two individuals as well as minke whales. An experienced photographer was able to identify two fin whales, including the female Bp097, also known as Zipper due to her infamous scar. “This is already the third time I’ve seen her from shore this spring!” he adds. “Sometimes she was far away, sometimes closer. But the thrill is always the same.”

For certain die-hards, the heavy rains that pounded the region over the past week didn’t dampen their urge to get out and watch cetaceans. On a gloomy day, this same enthusiast spotted a new fin whale. After checking with the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals, it appears to be Bp919, a female that has been known since 1990.

In Carleton-sur-Mer, a local resident shared with us the arrival of fin whales not far offshore in Chaleur Bay. She shares her unexpected encounter: “I saw a whale slowly surface in the distance, but with the overcast weather, I couldn’t see the spout. I was thinking it could only be a minke whale in this part of Chaleur Bay, even though I could see that its back was endless when it came up for air. […] Suddenly, the whale resurfaced with an explosive spout, and we had not one but three feeding fin whales. One was swimming in a semicircle very close, while the other two remained in the background – a rare and unique sight for this part of Chaleur Bay.” An unusual sighting in the area, especially since these titans were swimming in 15 metres of water at most! Also in the course of this outing, she spotted porpoises and thousands of seabirds.

On the south shore, seals have been omnipresent, often seen resting on the rocks. The harbour seal pupping season has begun (article in French). In the Sept-Îles sector, an observer reports at least a dozen seals scattered throughout the bay amongst the rocks in the water. In particular, she mentions “two larger ones that must have been harp seals, and the others, harbours I imagine, but they were so far away it’s difficult to say for sure.” Indeed, this time of year, harp seals are in full moult. Adult males and young are the first to moult. They are followed by adult females around the third week of April. For about four weeks, they gradually lose their two-tone coat as they acquire greyish fur.

Thanks to all our collaborators!

Special thanks go out to all our observers who share their love for marine mammals with us! Your encounters with cetaceans and pinnipeds are always a pleasure to read and discover.

On the water or from shore, it is your eyes that give life to this column.

Sylvie Bernier
Luciano Camellini
Marie-Andrée Charlebois
Thalia Cohen
Laeticia Desbordes
Jade-Audrey Lavergne
Véronique Gaulin
Véronique Gélinas
Pascal Pitre
Renaud Pintiaux
Diane Ostiguy
Andréanne Sylvain
Marielle Vanasse

And to all the others!

Additionally, we would like to acknowledge the following teams that also share their sightings:

Sept-Îles Research and Education Centre (CERSI)
Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM)
Marine Mammal Observation Network (MMON)
Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network (QMMERN)
Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS)

Would you also like to share your observations?

Have you seen any marine mammals in the St. Lawrence? Whether it’s a spout offshore or just a couple of seals, drop us a line and send your photos to [email protected]!