Winter research campaign in Melimoyu

Credit: Oliver Alarcon

The Pincoya dropping us off in Melimoyu
Credit: Oliver Alarcon

Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

Credit: Susannah Buchan

We arrived in Melimoyu at the Patagonia Sur base on Wednesday afternoon after a surprisingly smooth, but neverthless lengthy (16hrs!) ride in the Pincoya ferry across the Corcovado Gulf from Quellon. I even saw a blow in the TicToc area in the morning as I woke up! Upon arrival, we set up the bare essentials for working over the next few days and successfully sampled our three main feeding areas on Thursday and Friday. We even got some krill in our plankton net! So I am very pleased with our first few days of winter research, and I am thankful that Oliver, one of the Universidad de Concepcion's field technicians, is working with me again this time.

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).
Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

We had a treat encounter yesterday morning as we went out: a group of 50 bottle nose dolphins entering the bay, and we met them again as we were coming back from sampling in the afternoon.

So, I am crossing my fingers for the next few weeks and hope that the weather will be on our side, at least some of the time. The days are short at the moment; it is cold and several storms are forecast, so conditions are not as good as there were in the summer. But it is so misty and beautiful and quiet; there is a different kind of light now, and everything is a little stiller. The Melimoyu glacier is also fatter and bluer, and the mountains are snowy and stern. This is my first taste of Patagonian winter and I am charmed.

Sea lions at the back of the reserach vessel.
Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

Black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys)
Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

Southern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides)
Credit: Sebastian Yancovic 

Flightless steamer duck (Tachyeres pteneres)
Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

New feeding organ discovered that might detect prey densities

Scientists have discovered an organ in the jaw of rorqual whales, like blue whales, that might detect sufficient prey densities to then initiate feeding lunges, which are energetically expensive and only worth it if enough food is taken in to compensate for the energetic costs. Read about it at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120523133242.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fplants_animals%2Fdolphins_and_whales+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Plants+%26+Animals+News+--+Dolphins+and+Whales%29

'Built-in ear plugs' in toothed whales

Interesting new findings from researchers at the University of Hawaii indicate that toothed whales have 'built-in ear plugs' to protect their ears from loud sounds.

Read about it at Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120508151954.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fplants_animals%2Fdolphins_and_whales+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Plants+%26+Animals+News+--+Dolphins+and+Whales%29 .

Hearing in baleen whales

Credit: Maya Yamato, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Here is an interesting article about hearing in large whales, a subject which is both very poorly understood and difficult to research. According to this study, it seems that minke whales have "a large, well-formed fat body" that connects the ears and provides a possible transmission pathway for sound from the environment to the inner ear:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120417113640.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fplants_animals%2Fdolphins_and_whales+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Plants+%26+Animals+News+--+Dolphins+and+Whales%29

Blue whales and the Melimoyu volcano

Credit: Susannah Buchan

A blue whale with the Melimoyu volcano backdrop, on the 19th of March 2012.

Orcas on my last day in Melimoyu!

Credit: Susannah Buchan

Credit: Sebastian Yancovic

Credit: Susannah Buchan

This was the biggest treat of all. I had never seen orcas, and here are three of them passing through Melimoyu Bay on my last day in Melimoyu, 20th March 2012.

Bottlenose dolphins!

Credit: Susannah Buchan

This was such a treat to see the open ocean morphotype of bottlenose dolphins moving through Melimoyu Bay and out to the open Corcovado Gulf. They are so energetic and impressive. Absolutely huge! These photos were taken in February 2012.