Spring is a wonderful time to visit the Oregon Coast and catch a rare and magnificent glimpse of the migrating Gray Whales making their annual trek from Mexico to The Bering Sea. Although most continue north, around 200 stay along the Oregon Coast to feed can still be spotted until late May.
Whale Watchers in the Coos Bay/North Bend/Charleston area can visit Shore Acres State Park and 26 other locations along the Oregon Coast March 19-26 and learn more from trained “Whale Watching Spoken Here” volunteers from 10am to 1pm. Call 541-888-3732 or visit www.ShoreAcres.net or www.WhaleSpoken.org.
An estimated 18,000 whales will pass by our coast during March, April, May and June on their way to Alaska’s Bering Sea. Juveniles pass first followed by adults. Last are the mothers and babies. Many of them come close to shore feeding on Oregon’s great food supply. In April and May you may be able to see mothers and calves resting in protected coves close to shore.
The Whale Watching Spoken Here® program staffs trained volunteers at 26 great whale-watching on the Oregon coast during the peak migration weeks to help visitors spot the migrating whales and learn more about them. The program’s main objectives are to help visitors see and learn about the whales and other marine life along our coast.
The Whale Watching Spoken Here program also accepts new volunteers each year to be placed at great whale watching sites during Watch Weeks so they can teach others while watching the whales too. If you love whales, consider volunteering for this outstanding organization!
Here are some facts about Gray Whales we found on their Website…learn more by going to their Fun Whale Facts Page
- Gray Whales are noted for their 12,000-mile annual migration from the Arctic Ocean to Mexico in the winter and their return north in the spring.
- Whalers nicknamed the Grays “Devil Fish” because they fought so hard to defend their babies.
- Today, they are best known for being friendly to people.
- In the 1600-1700s Gray Whales in the Atlantic were hunted to extinction.
- They were hunted almost to extinction two different times in the Pacific Ocean.
- Starting early in the 1900s, the birthing lagoons were protected by the Mexican government.
- The United Nations joined in the protection (1935), as did the International Whaling Commission (1946), but the moratorium against whaling wasn’t started until 1986.
- The Grays made a good recovery and were taken off the endangered list in 1994, but are still threatened.
- The reason for the migration south is to give birth to their young in the warm, calm bays of Mexico.
- Gray Whale babies are 15 feet long and weigh 2,000 at birth
- The grow up to 45 feet long and weigh 70,000 pounds.
- They return north and spend the summer feeding in the Bering and Chukchi Seas (they seldom eat during migration).
- About 200 Gray Whales don’t continue to Alaska, but stay along the Oregon Coast to feed.
- Grays have baleen plates instead of teeth, with 130-180 plates or pieces along each side of the upper jaw.
- They take great mouthfuls of food-laden water; then using their tongues, they squeeze out the water and swallow the food that sticks to the baleen.
- The Oregon coast produces lots of phytoplankton (small marine plants) which are eaten by zooplankton (small marine animals) including bottom dwelling amphipods and mysid shrimp – primary food of the Gray Whales.
- The only natural predators of Gray Whales are Orcas (killer whales) and large sharks. Even though some countries are still whaling, the biggest threat to the whales is pollution in the oceans.