ObservatioPs of migrating gray whales __........--- ...--·~-- ~

(F:schrich-t:ius robustzw) at Cape St. Elias, Alaska

1Halt Cunningham

Susan Stanford

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

333 Raspberry Road

Anch0rage, Alaske:1_ 99502

~.ms.

1. Bare lslancl

ABSTRACT

H:i..gration, two patterns of feeding behavior and several sequences of

sexual behavior of gray Hhales \vere observed at Cape St. Eii

_j

INTP.ODUCTION M'D STUDY AREA

A SWiUP.ary of published material by PU~e (1962) indicated that gray

whales closely follow the coastline from the lagoons of Mexico to British

Columbia. Based on a few reports from scattered locations north of th~

Queen Charlotte Islands, Pike (1962) suggested that the wh2.les continue

north close to the shore through the Gulf of Alaska. Incidental observaticms,

during an Alaska Department of Fish and Game sea lion (Ewnetopias jzrha.tus)

project in 1977, indicated Cape St. Elias in the Gulf of Alaska, lay in

the path of the northward gray whale migration. This migration was

closely observed in 1978.

Ca1)e St .• Elias forms the south\vestern end of Kayak Island (Fig. 1). A

150m high pyranidal rock, located 0.4 kn south of the Cape, is referred

to on nautical charts as "Pinnacle Rock." A submerged marine reef

extends 1. 5 km southw·est from Pinnacle Rock and a rocky inter-tidal

peninsula extends 0.4 km to the south. "Southeast Rocks" are located

3. 2 krr, south east of Pinnacle Rock. Our observation post "tvas 17 m above

sea level on the soutlnvestern corner of Pinnacle Rock.

NETHODS

In 1978 daily watches Here kept from 22 Harch to l~ July. Bet\vecm 22 J:L:u-:ch,

1978 nnd 24 April, a total of 215 hours "tv~:s spent in observation, \v:i.th

up to 13 hours of observation per day during periods of peak activit:y.

~-!hales \·"ere sighted as far as 8 km offshore, but 53 percent of those

observed \·rere \vith:tn 0. 4 km of shore. Observn tions tl(~re aided by an WlX/lJOX

FIGURE 1. GRAY HH.ALE OBSERVATION ARE..

GULF ALASKA

ST. ELlA.., -,fiGUFlE 1. C' GRAY OOSEFlVATION A FlEA L OCfiTED WHf,LE o 36

~>

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reflecting mirror telescope and 8 x 35 binoculars. Behavioral aetivity

was described on a field tape recorder as it occurred. These recordLng·;

\vere transcribed into field notebooks each evening.

RESill,TS

Higration

At Cape St. Elias northt:vard mi&rating gray Hhales were observed daily in

1977 from 8 :Harch until the last sighting of a migrating \vhale on 13 Hay.

The peak migration of whales in that year was bet\veen 16 and 18 April

(Fig. 2) with a season total of 408 observed. In 1978~ the migration

was in progress by the time of our arrival on 22 March. The peak of

migration in that year \Jas betKeen 3 and 12 April with a season total of

2,147. Additional sightings of gray Hhales in the northeastern and

north·Jestern Gulf of Alaska are given in Table 1, \·Tith selected sightings

shoun in Fig. 3.

On four days in March and one day in April 1978 adults accompanied by

\·Thillcs less than one half the adult size Here observed. These small

animals were doubtless calves. On 27 Narch an adult and a small \·rhale

spent 10 minutes at the surface near Pinnacle Rock. The small \•7hale

repeatedly \vas seen to lie at right angles to the adult pushing at the

abdominal area, presumably nursing.

The behavior of mir;ratint; I:]J.J.les differed in scvernl respects bet1;een

late Ibrch and mid to late April. The former Here, in loo~>ely aggregatcf1

FIGURE 2. NUHBER OF HHALES PER D~\Y OBSERVED HIGRATING PAST CAPE ST. ELIAS, KAYAK ISU\ND, GULF OF ALASKA, SPRING 1977 and 1978.

1 6

f' I' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1rm1-1 11 11 1 1 1 r1r 1 1 1 111 1 1 111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 ~ 1 1 1 ---~

. 1977

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1978

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1978

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1978

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1978

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groups of t\-TO to five animaJ.s Hith gaps of several miles bctHeen the

groups. By the second vJeek of April, groups Here not discernable because"

of the high numbers of >·:hales present. Hhales arriving in late Harc11

and early April generally passed by the Cape •·rithout stopping; whereas

those ,arriving between .14 and 23 April remained in the vicinity of the

Cape for one to five hours. After 23 April they again \vere observed to

pass by the Cape vithout stopping. Also, their behavior appeared to be

more feeding oriented early in the season, v7hereas it seemed more sexu2.l~-Y

oriented near the ec~d. of the migration (Fig. 4).

On 18 and 23 April 1978, pods of 20 to 30 killer whales (Orcinus orca)

were observed also going northcv-ard past the Cape. Their passage '\vithin

2 km produced no visible effect among several migrating gray '\vhales.

Feeding Behavior

~le observed three kinds of behavior that appeared feeding eriented. He

termed them 11 surface skimming," "surface gulping" and a 11 lateral position."

In surface skimrrring, the vJhales sHam rapidly along the surface of the~

\v2.ter \vith their mouth opea. The snout, baleen and top of the head \i'erc

visible. After traveling in this manaer for 20 to 75 m, they closed

thei"t" mouth and submerged Hithout blo~;..ring. The surface gulping behavio"t"

appeared as a series of cycles. Each cycle was five to 15 seconds long

and began \Vhen a subm(:!rged animal surfaced \-lith it jmvs open. It completed

the cycle "tvhen it dove foreHard and appeared to bite the surface of the

Hater as it submerged. U;,ually during surface gulping the \Jhclle s\-::1!'\

upright "tdth tlh~ top of the he.:td and thorax above t-:atc~I.·.

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Occa~:donally in the shallm..r \·tater near the reef a Hhale rolled onto its

side witlt its uppermost pectoral flipper and fluke lobe partly out of

the water. Sometimes, the whale.remained in one location for several

seconds, but more often it svmm laterally along the shallo\v bottom

through the above cycle. F. H. Fay (pers. comm.) indicated that this

laterial pasition \vas comparable to the behavior of feeding gray \vhal12S

in the summer months near St. La\vrence Island, in the Bering Sea. This

behavior is called boltering by \·Jhalers (Rice pers. comm.). Hhales did

_j

•__)'

not blmv during either the surface skimming or surface gulping, sequence,

•_j though they usually rolled upright and ble\v after the lateral sequence.

Periodically the feeding sequences were interrupted by a shallm·1 dive

' ---' follo\·red by a typical blow. The surface gulping behavior was observed

more often than surface skiE-..ming and occasionally a \vhale made a series ' . -~

of surfaee gulps and then skiln...Cled. Ofte!l a \vhale skimmed through an

area, w.ade a sh:nt dive, then ble11 and skimmed in the opposite direction

through the same area. As many as six Hhales Here observed in the

' .J

surface gulping sequence svrirrunint; close together allmving just enough

room to maneauvc:r. Frequently a large animal s\Varn slightly ahead and

appeared to guLde the group. At other times during feeding activity,

c_j \vhales swam at right angles and gently bumped one another. Loosely

aggn'.gated groups of up to 13 1;.rhales alternated bett·Teen the feeding

behavior and mvirmni.ng in circles gently bumping each other. The gulpint;

and skimming activities generally took place nortlnvest of the reef

----, (Fig. 1) where the \vhales stvarn parallel to the reef in both directions

\vi thin 30 to 100 m of the re'-'f. Areas soul:he-Test of the reef and nortlnves t

of Pinnacle Rock Here used lesC'; frequently.

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Sexual Behavior

Feeding behavior was executed in smooth fluid movements, ·whereas sexu "1 :_-)

behavior frequently ivas more violent. Host of the feeding behavior

..J seemc.d to be near the surface but sexual behavior ivas not. The observed

sexual behaviors appeared to only parts of a greater sequence, most of

.. 0'

vlhich took place vlhile the vlhales ·Here submerged.

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On many occasions we observed behavior sequences of "penis display" and

"supine positioning" which seemed to be sexually oriented. Penis

display occurred when a male floated to the surFace ventral side up anJ _ _j

arched his back thrusting his abdominal and genital area above the

surface. The penis did not ahrays lay parallel \vith the longitudal axis

of the animal. If often lay off at an ~ngle--even to 90°--and appeared

. ~) to be distinctly curved along its length not unlike the curved Laculun

.. , of the walrus (Odohenus rosmaYus). Numerous subseq·~ent observations

indicate males may have some directional control of the erect penis.

Generally, the male rolled laterally from the arched back position in . ...J

the direction of the penis. A series of rapid blows and short shallo~

divec; ,,;as a typical sequel of the penis display.

\\hales attained the supine position in two ways. In some ca~}CS they

rose slowly to the surface tnen rolled directly onto thc~ir back; in

other instances, they rolled onto their back from a lateral position at

the surfe1ce. Hhile supi.ne, their m-:tndiblc, throat, vent:C

_)

themselves fonmrd by sculling Hith their flippers or by alternate

backatrokes of the flippers. The flukes v7ere: seldom used Hhen in thj s

position. Sometimes Hhcn they rolled ·over to blo1v they dove, but

usually they rolled 180° after bloHing and resw-r.cod the supine position. __ )

11 Paired lateral rolling," "fluke display" a-ad "spy hopping" also appeared'· .J

to be parts of the sequences of sexual behavior. Paired lateral rollin;';

began w·hen the whale pair rolled, breached and violently thrashed theis:

flukes. Eventually, the pair rolled laterally "tvith ventral surfaces

together, S"\-Tam sloHly a!: the surface with their flippers laying upon the

opposite "\-!hale. Thus together they moved fon1ard, rotating slovly as a

unit on the long axis, flukes moving in unison, alternately blmving as

they roiled. Lateral rolling usu2.lly ten::ri.nated as both whales sounded. ,--,

.. )

In the fluke display, the posterior end of th2 body protruded vertically

' .J out of the "tvater. One-third to one-half of the body was exposed for up

to six seconds in this IrLo'lnner. Then the Hhale slo1vly sa.nk, often rotating

'· )

around the longitudinal axis. Sometimes they sank from this vertical

position until only the flukes Here exposed pausing there briefly. Then . .J

it either exerted a forceful thru;;t, a gentle stroke at the surface, or

continued to sink slowly beneath the surface. Occasionally a pair of

,,yhales "\-lith ventral surfaces opposed rose in the fluke display tpgethe1:, ~-----)

then sank slowly beneath the surface. Some of these pairs moved their

flukes in unison.

--,

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Spy hopping appeared to be similar to positions described by Gilmore

(1969) and Norris et al. (1977), except that the ~·7hales at Cape

St. Elias seldom surfaced higher than eye level. At times, t\VO \vhales

maintained the spy hopping position vThilc one or both slo\vly rose and

sank as they moved around each other. Both spy hopping and fluke

display vere observed from 30m to 6.5 km offshore, in depths from tvro

to 30 fathoms.

The surveillance increase was responsible for the higher number of

recorded migrating vlhales in 1978. But, it did not account for the

increase in the feeding and sexual behavior that \ole observed in 1978.

Unless noted otherwise, the follo\ving observations were all in 1978.

On 17 April a pair of v;·hales engaged in sexual activity \vas sightec1.

north\vest of Pinnacle Rock. Tneir actions included fluke display and

paired lateral rolling \-lith their ventral surfaces opposed. They mvam

tm.;rard the shore until they were in the intertidal zone in less than !~ m

of \vater. There the penis of the rnale '\.;ras seen seven or eight times in

various stages of erection and insertion. About 35 to 40 m offshore the

pair turned an.d svmm parallel to the shore, laterally rolling as a unit

and alternately blmving. After approximately five minutes the penis w.2s

again observed partially inserted. As they turned offshore, the male

ro!..led onto his back in a penis display as previously described.· Frequently)

sexually active or copulating paL~s were accompanied by one to four

animals. These accompaning Hhales '"ere at times directly under or alor:.g

side the:; active pnir as described by Hatler and Darling (197Lf) and

Bal.d.cidge (197l~). At one U.nh:• on 17 April six sexually active pairs

were observed \-Tithin one square km bet1veen the southHest reef ancl the:

Peninsula. A total of 2!i Hhales Here involved vith these six pairs"

A lateral rolling sequence observed on 1.8 April appeared to involve only

tHo animals. Ho\·lever, after approximately ten minutes, one of the

v1hales surfaced ventral side up with the penises of hro different males

laying across its abdomen.

A i-7hale in the supine position \vas observed from 0930 hours until 1200

hours on 21 April bet\veen the Peninsula and southsv-est Reef. Its genital

area Has exposed m::>st of the time as it maintained this posltion. The

area surrounding the genital opening Has raised above the general contour

of the body. Two shorter slits (mammary slits) along side and parallel

to the genital opening ,.;ere in this raised .::.rea. This apparently \Vas a

fem..'1le. Hhales in the supine position lay alone, as in this case, but

more often. they weJ~e accompanied. Then the supine positioning ,.ms

interrupted by rapid rolling, extended sounding, heavy thrusting of the

flippers a-,~:: flukes at the surface and occasionally the paired lateral

rolling. Other supine positioned Hhales ·pere accompa.nied by spy hopping

vrhales.

Sometimes spy hopping appeared to precede sexual sequences; on 17 April

an exaggerated spy hopping behavior termin.:J.ted in au apparent sexual

seque:::tce. For 20 minutes, tlvo -.;v-hales repeatedly rose an(1. sank in the

spy hopping ;uode. Suddenly, Hith their ventral su-rfac.2s opposed, they

rose vertically out of the 1v-ater beyond t}y,•_ level of their flippers and

fell hack':van1, m·7ay from each other.

http:su-rfac.2s

On 14 April a Hhale thrust the rear third of its body vertically above

the water as it dove foreHard. A second \·Thale 1;.1ith larger flukes

surfaced ventral side up, immedLctely behind the small Hhale and made a

bad::vrard rolling dive from the surface. This resulted in the tHo vhales

coming together ventrally, \vhereupon they both slid slowly beneath the

surface. Fluke displays \vere observed near Southeast Rocks in 1977.

During the third week of April vrhen the sexual activity \vas greatest, \-Je

noticed that the \vhales did not always blow in a "normal" sequence. The ~-- j

normal progression of a gray \vhale bloH tvas 1) the prm-1-like area ahead

of the blmv-hole appeared fi::::-st, then the blowhole, 2) exhale-inhale,

3) head disappeared beneath the surface, 4) dorsal humps broke the

surface, and 5) the animal dove fore-.;-:ard, \'lith or without the flukes

sho>..Jing. Eo,.;e'ler, during sexual activity, the 'dhalc-'! occasionally

appeared to float to the surface with the body arched. The dorsal humps

_j \-Jere first to appear follmved by the head and then after blmving, the

body sJ.id bacla.;a:rd beneath the \vater. Sometimes, this slide conthm0.d

until the head and snout came up, then all sank beneath the surface. On

other occasions~ after the dorsal hlllups broke the surface, the >·rhale

sounded v7ithout blmving.

The number of whales sighted per day began to decrease by mid April, but )

the groups and recognizable individuals that did arrive remained in the

vicinity for extended periods. Several individuals \vere seen for four

hours on 16 and 17 ApriL By 2?. April a decreasing level of behavioral

activities accompanied the decrease of total daily sightings (Fig. 4).

These activities vere sporadic aft.cr 23 April. __j

1C:

DISCUSSION

The numerous observations from Cape St. Elias and sightings reported

from other localities along the Gulf of Alaska indicate that the nortln.'ccrcl

migration of gray Hhales closely folloHs the coast in this region. They

pass Cape St. Elias, turn north1·7est and apparently parallel the coast __ )

tm.;rard the Copper River. Numerous sightings indicate the tv-hales then

mo~le south\.Jest along the east coast of Hinchinbrook Island and Hontague

Island. Apparently, they cross Blying Sound following the coast of the

' __ ) Kenai Peninsula to Kennedy Entrance. Observations beyond the Barren

Islands are scattered. Sightings indicate they turn south•.;est in the

Barren Islands and pass close to the east shore of Afognak Island and

then doHn the east coast of Kodiak Island. Scattered sightings at

- 1 Tugidak, Chirikof and the Sewidi Islands suggest that some of the mignlilts

leave the coast south of Kodiak and cross tmv-ard the Alaska Peninsula

·well offshore before going through Unimak Pass, into the Bering Sea. (~ _)

Pike (1962) calculated that the gray ,,,ha.le.s migrate north;.vard at approxirnately

50 nautical miles per day (9 2. 5 km/ day) . Cape St. Elias lies approximately

1200 nautical miles north of Cape Flattery along the 50 fathom curve

(Pike 1962). Assuming that the Hhales travel at a steady rate (Rice and

Holman 1971):. they 'vould require approximately 24 detys to cover th3.t

distance. Observations published by Pike (1962) Hatler and Darling

(1974) and Hart (1977) indicate the spring migration peaks off Vancouver

Island from late Narch to mid Apr:tl. At Cap~: St. Elias the migration

peak w-as the second and third r.v-c.ek of Aprll in 1977 and 19/8. This doe~:;

not indicate the necessary 2/t da.ys of migra.tion.

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http:r.v-c.ek

There are at least three possible explanations: 1) Pike (1962) feels

the date of the migration peaks may differ from year to year. Our data

from Cape St. Elias (Fig. 2) suggests· a difference of 10 to 14 days

bctHeen 1977 and 1978. 2) The north\vard rate of spring migration is

__ l not o.ne half the southFard rate of the fall migration (Pike 1962), but

may b

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eray Hhale rcstr'.:::tc~d their surface skimming ancl sur face gulping

activities to a small area northuest of the reef and Pinnacle Rock

(Fig. 1). The surface gulping behavior of the Hhales at Cape St. Elias

closely resembled feeding activity reported by Hellington ancl Anderson

(1978) of a gray w·halc in Southern California, except that as \ve smv it,

it was done moving foreHard in open uater, rather than stationary in a

kelp bed. The lateral position engaged in by gray \vhales over: the reef

at Cape St. Elias was the same kind of feeding behavior engaged in by

gray whales .in the sununer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea, according

t.o F. H. Fay (pers. cornm.), who has observed it in both localities.

The sexual behavior of gray Hhales observed at Cape St. Elias resembled

similar activity reported from other locations along the northward

r-tigration route. Houck (1962) observed p:dred lateral rolling ancl

penis display in northern California in mid :Harch. Baldridge (197/f)

reported paired lateral rolling, penis display and several copulation_::;

off central California during late Harch and early April. Rice and

Holman (1971), citing C. E. Hunson (pers. COilli'U.) reported apparent

courtship and penis display by gray tvhales migrating northHard along the

coast of Hashington in April, and HaT.:ler and Darling (197ft) reported

possible mating behavior off Vancouver Island on 26 April. On April 5, 6

and 14 sexual behavior was observed among gray \vhale pairs off ]:Jachena

Point, British Columbia by Hart (1977). The significance of these

behaviors, which took place \vell after the late autumn-early H:Lnter

breeding seeson (Rice and Holman, 1971), is not clear at this time. He

suggest that it may l>e merely sexual experim::-ntation by subadults and

oth~r immature an:i.mals. This is indicated i.:o us by its timi.ng at Cnpc

St. Elias. The seXLtal behaviors \vere most evident there during pass.J se

of the third pulse of migrants, v."hich, judging from Rice and ~Jolman' s

(197l:Fig. 2) data, is made up mainly _of immature \•Thales of both sexes.

ACKNOhTLEDGEl'-lENTS

This study was supported by the Bureau of Land Han'lgement through an

intero.gency agreement w·ith the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, under which a multi-year program responding to needs of

petroleum development of the Alaskan continental shelf is managed by the

Outer Continental Shelf Enviornmental Assessment Program (OCSEAP)

office. The project wa.s administered by the Alaska Department of Fish

'.J and G:tme, Harine HaiTh.'1lals Section, through the Steller sea lion research

program. Ap?reciat:i.on is m·..--press·2cl to D::>n Calkins of the Alaska

Department of Fish and Ga:::.e, Anc.horage, Alaska, and to Dr. F. H. Fay

of Un:i.vel'sity of Alaska, Fairbanks for their support in the field and

critical reading of a draft of this paper. Dale W. Rice, National

' .J Narin.e Nav.rrral Laboratory, Seattle, also kindly supplied editorial comm-2-nt.

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http:Ap?reciat:i.on

LI'fER.ATUllE CITED

Baldridge, A. 1974. Higrant gray ivhales Hlth calves and sexual

behavior of gray wh.J.les in the Honterey area of central California.

I J Fishery Bull. 72:615-618.

Gilmore, R. H. 1969. The gray i·Jhale. Oceans, 1:9-20.

, __ j

c· I Hart, G. F. 1977. Observations on the spring migration and behavior of

gray ·whales near Pach,:!na Point, British Columbia. Hurrelet, 58 :l;O

43.

Hatler, D. F. and J. D. Darling. 1974. Recent observations of the gray , .I

,,-hale in British Colu:c.bia. Can. Field-l~Rt. 88: Mf9-l;59.

,___j

Houck, H. J. 1962. Possible mating of gray \•Jhales on the northern

California coast. Murrelet, 43:54. --,

___ )

Ne>·:rman, J. R. 1976. Observat:ons of sexual behavior in m.:::cle gray

LJ whales. Hurrelet, 57:!:-9.

Norris, K. S., R. M. Goodean, B. Villa-R. and L. Hobbs. 1977. Behavior

of CalifoJ...-rt.:ta gray whale, Rschric7rti2/S 'l>obv..st-uB, in southern Baja

California, Hexico. Fishery Bull., 75(1) :159-172.

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Pike, G. C. 1962. Higrat:irJn and feeding of the gray Hhale (Esch-richt·£:L.c;

""Obzr'·L-,J.. -...~~)~-:...!'"). .........J ,1 .. l'c·..\. .._~. n ·1 Can...1 J......FJ.. "''1 19:815-83(;.

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Observation of migrating gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) at Cape St. Elias, AlaskaABSTRACTINTRODUCTION AND STUDY AREAMETHODSRESULTSMigrationFeeding BehaviorSexual Behavior

DISCUSSIONACKNOWLEDGEMENTSLITERATURE CITED