Measuring 2 to 2.7 metres long, their toned bodies are black, white, grey and yellowish-beige. Atlantic white-sided dolphins! Fifteen or so individuals were seen leaping in Gasp\u00e9 Bay\u00a0<\/b>on July 5. \u201cWe usually don\u2019t see them until late July,\u201d comments one experienced cruise employee. Leaving just as suddenly as they arrived, the white-sided dolphins only visited the bay that one day.<\/p>\n
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they are estimated to number approximately 12,000 individuals. That is much more than St. Lawrence belugas (about 900) or even the herd of minke whales in the Gulf (about 1,000 individuals). On rare occasions, a few white-sided dolphins are spotted as far upstream as the Estuary. And visits by dolphins never go unnoticed on account of their impressive aerial behaviours.<\/p>\n
Another species with aerial acrobatics is the humpback whale. As she sets up her tent on \u00cele Nue de Mingan<\/b>, a camper hears a splash on the water. She turns around to witness a breach, then another, and other… up to ten consecutive breaches by a humpback whale. <\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of humpbacks, the Mingan Island Cetacean Study\u00a0<\/b>(MICS) has added a generation to Pseudo\u2019s family tree (H008). In 1982, she gave birth to the female Fleuret. Fleuret in turn gave birth to up to seven known calves! The most recent one, Hockey, was born in 2003. This year, Hockey was photographed with a newborn off the coast of Sept-\u00celes\u00a0<\/b>by MICS collaborator and long-time observer Jacques G\u00e9lineau. Pseudo is therefore a great-grandmother, the first one ever to be documented in the St. Lawrence.<\/p>\n A duo of humpbacks also made an appearance in the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park\u00a0<\/b>on July 9. One has an almost entirely black tail, while the other\u2019s is all white. They were identified as H887 and H916, two humpbacks first observed in the Estuary last summer. Will they stay longer than Tic Tac Toe and Snowball? Stay tuned! Off the coast of Tadoussac<\/b>, the first newborn belugas swim awkwardly with their mothers. Even more than usual, female and young belugas require peace and quiet to make it through the first few weeks of the calves\u2019 lives. If you opt for a trip out to sea, consider the belugas\u2019 well-being by maintaining your distance.<\/p>\n This map represents an order of magnitude rather than a comprehensive survey. It is to use for fun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Measuring 2 to 2.7 metres long, their toned bodies are black, white, grey and yellowish-beige. Atlantic white-sided dolphins! Fifteen or so individuals were seen leaping in Gasp\u00e9 Bay\u00a0on July 5. \u201cWe usually don\u2019t see them until late July,\u201d comments one experienced cruise employee. Leaving just as suddenly as they arrived, the white-sided dolphins only visited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-observation-of-the-week"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nIn Baie-des-Sables<\/b>, a minke whale often passes near the shoreline and near the end of the docks; meanwhile, a seal pokes its head out of the water. It even lifts a third of its body out of the water. \u201cThis is the first time I am seeing this. I don\u2019t know what it is doing, but I have the feeling it is feeding on small fish,\u201d reports the observer.
\nOn July 8, at the Pointe-des-Monts\u00a0<\/b>lighthouse near the farthest reaches of the Estuary, visitors cry out: \u201cBelugas!\u201d The on-site naturalist is intrigued, as it is quite rare to see belugas at this location this time of the year. She goes outside and discovers that it is not whitecaps playing tricks on them, but rather a beluga less than 100 metres from shore. The visitors claim they tallied at least 6 of them. A few days earlier and farther upstream, six fin whales break the horizon. Did they reach the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park<\/b>? In any case, dozens of fin whales are identified through photos.<\/p>\n