{"id":53715,"date":"2021-06-03T19:08:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/a-laffut-des-grands-souffles\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T12:21:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T12:21:05","slug":"on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/","title":{"rendered":"On the lookout for big blasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory<\/a>\u00a0 (website in French) spots them. In the golden morning light, not one, but two humpback whales are swimming offshore, in the heart of the Marine Park. One of them even launches itself into the air in a masterful breach. Is this the debut of the whale-watching season?<\/p>

Just one hour later, again off the coast of Tadoussac, a huge blast erupts. The straight column hovers over the water surface for a good ten seconds or so. Is it a fin whale, perhaps the same individual as the one spotted last week from Cap de Bon-D\u00e9sir? It\u2019s hard to say from such a distance. Some spouts are particularly recognizable, such as the right whale\u2019s V-shaped blast or that of the sperm whale, which angles forward and to the left. In the St. Lawrence, a tall, straight blast will generally be associated with a blue or a fin whale, while humpbacks tend to have a more balloon-shaped spout. But out on the water, not everything is so straightforward, and a simple gust of wind can easily mislead the observer.<\/p>

On the other side of the river, an observer in Gasp\u00e9 is thrilled after weeks of watching for big spouts: \u201cSightings at last!\u201d she writes. A humpback between Manche-d\u2019\u00c9p\u00e9e<\/strong> and Gros-Morne<\/strong> and then a feeding minke whale, which performed a half breach.\u201d Slightly farther afield, off Grande-Vall\u00e9e<\/strong> on May 30, a fin whale is observed 250 metres from the coast, heading east. The observer notes intervals of up to 37 seconds between breaths. After taking a few breaths at the surface, this huge cetacean can dive for up to 25 minutes. In Gasp\u00e9 Bay, two humpbacks are also the joy of the season\u2019s first whale-watching cruises.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them. In the golden morning light, not one, but two humpback whales are swimming offshore, in the heart of the Marine Park. One of them even launches itself into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":46162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[454,643,420],"class_list":["post-53715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-observation-of-the-week","tag-baleine-noire-en","tag-globicephale-en","tag-rorqual-a-bosse-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn the lookout for big blasts - Baleines en direct<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the lookout for big blasts - Baleines en direct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Baleines en direct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/baleinesendirect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-03T19:08:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-09T12:21:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laure Marandet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BaleineMagazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BaleineMagazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laure Marandet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laure Marandet\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/33178a50a94afbd3eb7460ab0d3da710\"},\"headline\":\"On the lookout for big blasts\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T19:08:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-09T12:21:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":316,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"baleine noire\",\"globic\u00e9phale\",\"rorqual \u00e0 bosse\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Observations of the Week\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/\",\"name\":\"On the lookout for big blasts - Baleines en direct\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T19:08:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-09T12:21:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg\",\"width\":550,\"height\":368,\"caption\":\"rorquals communs souffle \u00a9 GREMM\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Accueil\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On the lookout for big blasts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Baleines en direct\",\"description\":\"Tout savoir sur les baleines du Qu\u00e9bec\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Baleines en direct\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/logo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":88,\"caption\":\"Baleines en direct\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/baleinesendirect\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/BaleineMagazine\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/BaleinesEnDirect\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/33178a50a94afbd3eb7460ab0d3da710\",\"name\":\"Laure Marandet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7898f0dd30843a8359897604fd018f21556d32cbd92c3e539be826ee5658b0b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7898f0dd30843a8359897604fd018f21556d32cbd92c3e539be826ee5658b0b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7898f0dd30843a8359897604fd018f21556d32cbd92c3e539be826ee5658b0b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laure Marandet\"},\"description\":\"Laure Marandet has served as editor for the GREMM since early 2020. Convinced that the conservation of species is contingent on a better understanding by the general public, she has been passionate about popularizing science for over 15 years. Her strengths: a dual degree in biology and journalism, an insatiable curiosity, a child-like love for the animal world, and the patience necessary to draft texts that are both clear and precise.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/baleinesendirect.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/lmarandet\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On the lookout for big blasts - Baleines en direct","description":"Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On the lookout for big blasts - Baleines en direct","og_description":"Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them.","og_url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/","og_site_name":"Baleines en direct","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/baleinesendirect","article_published_time":"2021-06-03T19:08:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-09T12:21:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":550,"height":368,"url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laure Marandet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BaleineMagazine","twitter_site":"@BaleineMagazine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laure Marandet","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/"},"author":{"name":"Laure Marandet","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#\/schema\/person\/33178a50a94afbd3eb7460ab0d3da710"},"headline":"On the lookout for big blasts","datePublished":"2021-06-03T19:08:47+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-09T12:21:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/"},"wordCount":316,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg","keywords":["baleine noire","globic\u00e9phale","rorqual \u00e0 bosse"],"articleSection":["Observations of the Week"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/","url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/","name":"On the lookout for big blasts - Baleines en direct","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-03T19:08:47+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-09T12:21:05+00:00","description":"Friday, May 28: It\u2019s barely the crack of dawn on the dunes of Tadoussac when Laetitia from the Tadoussac Bird Observatory\u00a0 (website in French) spots them.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/bph-BPJ070724_1096-grm.jpg","width":550,"height":368,"caption":"rorquals communs souffle \u00a9 GREMM"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/on-the-lookout-for-big-blasts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Accueil","item":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On the lookout for big blasts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/","name":"Baleines en direct","description":"Tout savoir sur les baleines du Qu\u00e9bec","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#organization","name":"Baleines en direct","url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/logo.png","width":300,"height":88,"caption":"Baleines en direct"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/baleinesendirect","https:\/\/x.com\/BaleineMagazine","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/BaleinesEnDirect"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/#\/schema\/person\/33178a50a94afbd3eb7460ab0d3da710","name":"Laure Marandet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7898f0dd30843a8359897604fd018f21556d32cbd92c3e539be826ee5658b0b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7898f0dd30843a8359897604fd018f21556d32cbd92c3e539be826ee5658b0b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7898f0dd30843a8359897604fd018f21556d32cbd92c3e539be826ee5658b0b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laure Marandet"},"description":"Laure Marandet has served as editor for the GREMM since early 2020. Convinced that the conservation of species is contingent on a better understanding by the general public, she has been passionate about popularizing science for over 15 years. Her strengths: a dual degree in biology and journalism, an insatiable curiosity, a child-like love for the animal world, and the patience necessary to draft texts that are both clear and precise.","url":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/author\/lmarandet\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53716,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53715\/revisions\/53716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}