More Action in the Gaspé

In relative terms, however, it is more difficult to calculate, but the fact remains that it takes a tremendous amount of physical effort to achieve the feat of lifting one’s multitonne body out of the water.

Why spend so much energy breaching just before migration, when one would think that whales would prefer to “top off their tank” as much as possible? Hard to say. One study examined breaching in different species. The authors were surprised to witness mothers and babies just a few weeks old jumping repeatedly. They therefore hypothesize that repeated breaching plays a sufficiently important social role to be worth the energy expenditure and that it may also be used for the development of certain functions in calves or to communicate a clear sign of vitality in adults.

Minke whales and belugas on the North Shore

In Quebec’s Côte-Nord region, where whales are fewer and fewer in number, one must be even more attentive to catch sight of one. On November 30, two research assistants from the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) take advantage of their lunch break in Tadoussac to watch a small group of belugas swimming in the mouth of the Fjord. In Les Bergeronnes, on December 2, a birder also spotted belugas as well as a lone minke whale.

In Baie-Comeau, two minke whales are observed riding the waves. To avoid getting a mouthful, they need to hold their heads higher out of the water when they surface to breathe, which makes them all the more conspicuous.

In Port-Cartier, one fin whale passes offshore. “Nothing else to report,” laments one observer.

In winter, observing seals is sometimes made easier by the presence of ice along the coast. On November 27 at the mouth of the York River in Gaspé Bay, some fifty harbour seals bask on the ice. Two days later, about fifteen seals are resting at the same spot. This time, the observer thinks she sees harp seals amongst the harbour seals. “Is it possible that the two species coexist?” she ponders. It’s not impossible, but it is unlikely. Seals of different species tend not to share haulouts.

In the water, seals are more difficult to spot, especially when they only stick their heads out long enough to breathe. Harp seals, on the other hand, can stand out when they swim on their backs. Their head in the air resembles a bottle floating on the surface and their white belly makes them easy to spot. On the Saint-Siméon – Rivière-du-Loup ferry, one lucky individual saw three harp seals during the crossing.