Image: A sideways surface lunge feeding humpback whale.
2024 09-26 SB Channel
The high marine layer quickly burned off to beautiful sunny skies. There was a very slight breeze near the shore, where most of the action was, but things got breezier as we neared The Buoy. Once again, there was a feeding spectacle going on due to the numerous, large aggregations of northern anchovies on the surface. Sightings today included: 4500 common dolphins and 3 humpback whales. Additionally, the crew retrieved one deflated, floating, Mylar balloon from the ocean surface.
As a sidenote, common dolphins in the Pacific Ocean have recently been categorized as being members of a single species, Delphinus delphis. In our travels in the Santa Barbara Channel, the vast majority of these dolphins are members of the subspecies, Delphinus delphis bairdii. Common dolphins not belonging to the subspecies were formally called “short beaked,” and tend to be highly animated. They perform lots of high flying leaps, quite a bit of tail walking, etc.
Dolphin sightings began just past The Kelp Farm, where several small pods were observed. we will continue to see dolphins throughout the trip, with the largest aggregations busy feeding alongside numerous seabirds and our humpback whales.
We were about 4 miles south of Goleta when two adult humpback whales were found surface lunch feeding. This activity continued for quite a while and, needless to say, is quite a spectacle to behold. Birdnaditos were seen here and there, but strangely, there were not many sea lions enjoying the anchovy banquet. About 1 mile south we found a single adult humpback whale that was also feeding on the surface. This individual preferred side lunging (See today’s photograph for an example).
On the way home we encountered 350 very active “short beaked” common dolphins described above.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
South past the kelp farms we started to make contact with pods of Long-Beaked Common Dolphins feeding on swarms of anchovies. Captain Dave worked his "whaley magic" in the
area off Goleta past the UCSB campus where a pair of Humpback Whales were feeding together. Concentrated Common Dolphin activity at the surface heralded a vertical lunge feed with two Humpbacks with their jaws agape with the pink palate of the roof of the mouth visible on one and the extended rorqual pleats bulging. The anchovy school clustered around the Condor Express for cover. The concentration of anchovies prompted the Humpbacks to pursue with another vertical lunge barely 20 feet off starboard and a close approach of the other whale on…