4 am Alarm = Rare Dolphin Viewing - Observation of the Week, 12/6/23

Our Observation of the Week is this Southern Right Whale Dolphin (Lissodelphis peronii), seen off of the French Southern Territories by @adrien-pajot!

“I have been interested in nature since I was young, thanks to my parents and particularly my father,” says Adrien Pajot, who currently works with WILDLABS, an organization that aids conservation through technology. “Then, an internship when I was 12 at the local protected area of the island I live on really started my passion for birds.”

About four years ago, through an internship with the CEBC, Adrien had the opportunity to visit the French Southern Territories of Crozet, Kerguelen and Amsterdam - it takes about a month of boat travel, back and forth, for these visits.

After tagging Wandering Albatrosses for a month in Kerguelen, they headed back to Réunion via Amsterdam Island.

The journey between Kerguelen and Amsterdam island is very famous for marine mammals because of underwater topography and upwelling, but the Lissodelphis dolphins are not commonly seen at all. Since I have discovered this species in the book Mammifères marins du monde, I have dreamed many times of seeing them.

The two first days of the way back (23rd and 24th of December) gave no Lissodelphis but wonderful observations of pelagic birds. I was a bit disappointed because on the 24th, we reached what was supposed to be the best area for marine mammals for the whole trip. But it was already dark and we were going to cross this area by night, with only a few hours the following morning to try our luck.

And, on the 24th of December, we had an amazing and long night, celebrating Christmas. The party ended at 2am for me and I hesitated to set my alarm for 4am, considering the very small window for marine mammal sightings. But I ended up setting it, early as usual. The alarm woke me up and I took my camera and binoculars to go to the upper deck - I was still slightly under some effects of alcohol and lack of sleep.

After thirty minutes, magic happened. I saw splashes coming from the left part of the boat, and I instantly understood that they were the dreamed-of dolphins. I totally panicked. I took 30 dark pictures because my settings were horrible [see example above], then I managed to calm down and take a few good pictures. I was alone with the captain on the deck and hesitated to ask him to wake up people in the boat. The dolphins left one or two minutes after their appearance.

I felt both happiness about this extraordinary observation on Christmas day and disappointment that my teammates were not woken up. But it was probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever had.

One of two species in the genus Lissodelphis, southern right whale dolphins are slim oceanic dolphins that lack a dorsal fin. Right whales also lack dorsal fins, so it’s thought the common name might originate in that similarity. Not too much is known about their natural history.

An avid eBirder, Adrien (above, in Costa Rica) says he uses iNaturalist for his “random” non-bird observations.

iNaturalist helps me a lot in diversifying my identification skills. Before, I was mainly focused on birds and marine mammals. But now, I want to contribute everything I see in the various places I visit. The growing community of iNaturalist is really wonderful and, because I work in this field, I know that participatory sciences are important, how difficult it is to get high quality data, and how iNaturalist manages to answers both issues with their fantastic application and website.

(Quotes were modified for clarity)

- Southern right whale dolphins are not often seen playing off of ships, but here's some footage of a pod doing just that.

- in addition to living in a different hemisphere, northern right whale dolphins have less white coloration than their southern counterparts.

Posted on December 6, 2023 06:26 PM by