When I'm not photographing whales or birds I often look around for other wildlife to observe and photograph. It's not all about the big stuff. I also love the challenge of trying to spot inconspicuous creatures and get some decent photos before they dart away. It's even more interesting when you are visiting another country where the wildlife is totally different to what you are used to seeing in your own backyard.
Every year in winter the Baja lagoons in Mexico are frequented by high concentrations of gray whales. They use the sheltered waters as a nursery ground and have become well-known for being the friendliest whales on the planet. Not only do they allow you to get up close to them, but they actually actively seek out boats and humans for contact. At first I was very skeptical and decided to just sit back and observe. But it didn't take long for me to see that these whales really do approach the boats. They go right up to the boats, rub up against them and stick their heads out of the water to observe the humans onboard. At one stage a mother even nudged her calf towards to boat, which was the exact opposite behaviour that I have mostly seen from whales. The gray whales in these lagoons really do give the most incredible close-up wildlife encounters, and they perfectly fit the term gentle giants.
My main reason for visiting Mexico was to visit the Pacific coast lagoons that gray whales use as nursery grounds. I was extremely lucky to be able to join a 6-day whale camping trip to Magdalena Bay, which is one of the hot spots for the gray whales. I got my own tent on an island and every day I got to enjoy not only the whales, but also the other unique wildlife of the area. The ecosystem was very different to any other I had seen before. The mangroves hosted a range of interesting bird species, including the bright red-throated frigate birds. From a distance the island I camped on looked barren with it's wind-swept dunes. But on closer inspection it was covered in an array of colourful desert flowers. I will never forget waking up to the sound of whale blows just outside my tent and seeing bottlenose dolphins jumping just off the beach at sunset.
Photos of the gray whales will be in my next blog post.
I got to see some really cool birds when I was in Mexico. A bit of a bonus on the side, considering I was going mostly for the whale watching experiences. I was particularly impressed by the number of heron species on offer.
After spending several days in the touristy city of Cabo San Lucas it was a nice change of scenery to spend some time in the quieter township of Loreto. The municipality of Loreto has a whole different vibe to it, having picturesque towns and villages that are decorated with the most beautiful historic churches and cathedrals. I was particularly lucky to be included in an unplanned side visit to San Javier village, which is a tiny settlement built against the backdrop of the Sierra de la Giganta mountains. After visiting the village we went on a hike through a valley in these mountains. The walk started by passing through an orchard of all sorts of citrus tress, many that I have never heard of. Then it snacked through the dry desert valley of rugged terrain where I had my first close up encounter with cacti in Mexico. Not a bad way to spend the day when you aren't able to get out on the water to watch whales.
I've seen blue whales in the Azores, but all my encounters there don't even come close to the blue whale experience I had in the sea of Cortez in Mexico (also known as the Gulf of California). It didn't take too much time out on the water for me to realise it's arguably the best blue whale watching location in the world. Ok I still have some hotspots to visit, but so far it's up there. I feel extremely lucky and honoured that I was invited to join blue whale researchers from the Great whale Conservancy for the first day of their 19th Baja blue whale research season. A much better experience than joining a tourist excursion, especially for a biologist like me. As soon as we got to the the area we started seeing the tall unmistakable blows of blue whales in all directions. We spent the next hours going from whale to whale, spending just enough time with each one to get good quality ID photos. By the end of the day we counted 12 different individuals that we managed to photograph! The most memorable was by far the first whale. This whale was named "White eyes", due to the white marks on the underside of his tail (see the photo below). White eyes is one of the most recognisable blue whales in the world and one of the most sighted whales in the past quarter century in Mexican waters. White eyes is known to be an adult male and he has also been observed to spend a lot of time off upper California. I've read that this individual has been encountered since, and I hope that he is still doing well out there in the big blue
My first trip out on the water in Mexico was already a big success. There were so many humpback whales around, and they were very active as they visit the region to mate and calve. I quickly lost track of how many whales I saw because there were blows everywhere. The blows could often be seen from land, which I wasn't expecting - I had just told a couple on the beach that they probably wouldn't see whales from shore, but shortly after we started seeing them blowing and breaching not too far away. Humpback whales are well known for putting on an amazing show.
