With the Belugas… Season Ends with First Snow

Last week arrived quickly. The weather has hardly been favourable for some time now: we go out whenever conditions allow, which means less and less. One morning when calm weather was in the forecast, we tried our hand at the Estuary, but the winds quickly shifted and conditions made it impossible to perform our job efficiently.

We therefore head for the Saguenay Fjord and its high cliffs, which provide shelter from the gusts. We cross paths with a herd of around twenty belugas downstream of Cap de la Boule. Quickly, we spot a conspicuous animal that is well known to our team: It’s Yogi, a female that we’ve been tracking since 1986.

The herd comprises numerous juveniles, recognizable by their grey colouring, as well as two calves, whose dark pigmentation is more reminiscent of café au lait. However, we could not identify the mothers of the calves, as the latter did not appear to associate with any specific individuals.

Three weeks eariler, we observed in the same area a female by the name of Céline, whom we’ve known since 1987. At her sides was a bleuvet, or second-year calf. Is Céline the mother? Before this can be confirmed, one would have to study photos taken in 2019 and this year to make sure the calf has been observed with her multiple times.