Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Whalenerd‘s Podcast

We had special guest Kayah George, a Coast Salish matriarch in training, on this week to chat about some of her passions and knowledge about killer whales and the waters around what we now call British Columbia. 

This week's episode we had Alex Brash join us to talk about his new book: A Whaler at Twilight: A True Account of Whaling and Redemption in the South Pacific. We chatted about the family history that led up to writing the book, whaling history, conservation and more!

After a longer break Katlyn is back with a recap episode from the spring trips and her first month at sea in Alaska. Listen in for a detailed recap of the two Monterey Bay trips and an overview of the Alaska route she traveled in May and June. There is also a small tribute to the late Roger Payne at the end of the episode.

The band is back together! We had Eric and Slater back on as hosts with our special guest Erica Cirino. Erica works as a free lance writer and artist who often covers and shares stories about wildlife and human impacts. She has sailed across the gyres of the Pacific and Atlantic documenting and studying microplastics and plastic debris in our oceans. She is currently working on a book that will cover some of her experiences with her trips and impacts of humans on the planet in regard to plastic debris.

We are recording from all over the country via skype - occasionally there are some audio issues due to that.

Katlyn and Jamie have been off the water for a few days due to poor weather. So they made a podcast episode together! As some of you know, Katlyn is out in Gloucester, Massachusetts working with Jamie at Cape Ann Whale Watch. We talked about how Jamie got started in the marine world, her involvement at the Texas Sea Life Center and her job at Cape Ann Whale Watch. We also talked about her favorite individual humpbacks and how whale naming works in the Gulf of Maine. 

We did have a little technical difficulty with the recording - so about 8 minutes if the audio sounds a little different in the middle of the episode. 

Welcome back everyone! After a hiatus we are back with a new episode. Thank you so much for sticking with us throughout this wild time. For our first minisode back Katlyn gave us an introduction to the new area she is working in: Gloucester Massachusetts.

In this episode Katlyn and Eric talk about all the common hitchhikers on whales and dolphins - we even threw in manatees! 

We talked about whale barnacles, whale lice, remoras, pennella and the various species they are observed on.

The only obvious hitchhiker we forgot was diatoms!

This is the final episode of the three part series on whale song! This episode covers all mysticetes that sing besides humpback whales. While researching this episode, most of the journals had their articles on open or free access. Take advantage while you can! This may change back to pay walls once academic operations go back to "normal" post pandemic. 

Stay safe and healthy out there.

Part 2 of the series on whale song.

Do we know why the winged whale sings? The long and short of it is, we don't. But Katlyn broke down some of the leading theories from over the years of what scientists have studied. This is a broad summary of some of the leading theories as to why humpback whales in particular might sing. 

Introducing minisodes!

During this time we are not able to go out on the water - so we are launching mini episodes. These minisodes are more condensed information about one particular topic. If you have suggestions for topics - send them to us via instagram or facebook. 

This first minisode is part of a three part series on whale song. This first part is: How whale song saved a species. Katlyn researched the historic timeline of whale song and when it was first made available to the public, and how the public reacted to it afterward. 

All the resources from this minisode will be posted on the facebook page.

Stay safe out there!

We are all locked down and laid off! But we had quite a few sightings to report from all our trips before the shut downs. Slater did manage to almost get a full week in on his Baja trip before having to cancel it all.

We also covered a few whale news items. The partial birth of a humpback whale in Maui from February - the mom and baby we re-sighted! Six weeks later and both appear healthy! We also talked about killer whales chasing some sei whales in to shallow water in Chile, a dwarf sperm whale startled by a seal or sea lion and right whales and a harp seal being sighted from shore in Cape Cod.

Stay safe out there!

We had another special guest this week! Robbie Mueller has been one of our longtime listeners and was our first supporter on patreon. We are so honored by his support of our work.

Robbie was inspired by a whale watch trip he went on in Alaska and by listening to our podcast to become more involved in the field of marine mammal science. He is currently working on his Master's degree at Texas A&M Corpus Cristi and did an internship with AIMM Portugal last summer working with dolphin studies! He had a great experience out there and we got to chat with him about his internship. It went so well that he is headed back there this summer to work for a longer part of the field season as a research assistant. 

AIMM Portugal is still looking for interns this season. If you are interested in applying, check out the info at this link: https://www.aimmportugal.org/dolphin-research-internship

This week we were able to chat with Dr. Robin Baird from Cascadia Research Collective! 

Robin works primarily on odontocete species around the Hawaiian Islands. We asked him questions about his work, funding, past studies and how he got involved in marine biology in the beginning. 

Check out his projects at this web address: http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/projects/hawaii

This week we checked in on the North Atlantic Right Whale breeding season. Meet the moms for this season and a little about their history!

Slater and Katlyn have some announcements to make!

Slater just launched his new apparel line: Open Seas Co. https://openseasco.com/

Katlyn just accepted a job for the summer at Cape Ann Whale Watch! She will be in Gloucester from mid-May to October. There are internship positions open if you want to join her out there volunteering this summer!

We also covered our recent sightings and some whale news on the following topics: ACS Monterey Bay meeting with John Ryan, Killer Whale sightings in Lebanon and Israel, stranded fin whale in Cornwall update, tail sailing behavior in humpbacks, and an internship in Alaska monitoring belugas.

We have activated our facebook page and will be using that to share our episode, but also our resources for our episode content so you can follow along! https://www.facebook.com/whalenerds/

It was Slater's turn to come back to Maui this time! We had a great week of whale watching, snorkeling and island adventures. 

We also went through some whale news and a quick recap of the Maui Whale Day events and Whale Tales Conference.

It's Eric's turn to visit Maui! He has had some amazing whale watch trips in addition to land sightings of turtles and chameleons! We also had quite a bit of recent whale news including an abandoned humpback calf in O'ahu and the recording of underwater footage of a partial humpback birthing event here in Maui!

Wow! It has been a year since we started this podcast. Thank you SO MUCH!

This episode we talked about our latest sightings, some recent whale and ocean news, and whale snot! 

This episode is also available via video format for our followers on patreon. If you want to see our antics while recording then join us on there!

patreon.com/whalenerds

We had loads of whale news for this episode. Everything from dolphin by catch protests, solar flares in correlation with live strandings of whales to tracking whales from space via satellite. We also caught up on our recent sighings from California and Maui. 

We also got a heart warming message on instagram from one of our listeners about how we have inspired her to pursue her cetacean aspirations. Thank you so much for the feedback! If you have been inspired to pursue your whale dreams after listening to our podcast, we want to hear about it! 

We are all wrapped up with our holiday fun! Happy New Year to all of our listeners! 

We all had a few whale watch updates from Monterey and from Maui. We also wrapped up 2019's journey as a podcast briefly and talked about all we had learned about whales this year! Nick Pyenson wrote a nice article for The Washington Post about all the cetacean discoveries we made this year that we skimmed through for you. We also wandered our way through other interesting sightings and updates.

The podcast turns a year old soon, and we have had thousands of you tune in so far. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Slater and Katlyn gave a final update from Slater's visit in Maui. We also all covered recent sighting reports from Monterey and Maui. 

The rest of the episode we talked about the latest whale news and papers. 

Thank you all for following along with us this year! Happy holidays. Please have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

Slater migrated to Hawaii! Slater met up with Katlyn in Maui to come and see the humpbacks in early season. We had a great trip together for sunset in Lahaina. We also attended at talk about deep sea corals. We also have a special guest Amber Caldwell. She moved from Monterey with Katlyn to work for Pacific Whale Foundation. This is her first whale season so we asked her about her experience thus far and her first sightings of the season in Maui. 

Eric talked about his recent sightings and a talk he attended about the white shark cafe. 

We are back after the holiday weekend. Weather has been pretty tough this week in Monterey so Eric and Slater haven't been out on the ocean too much lately. Katlyn was able to go out on snorkel trips and whale watch trips out in Maui. 

Great humpback action in Monterey Bay when the weather is manageable. Whales are starting to arrive in Maui too! Pretty soon there will be loads of whales for Katlyn to report in on. 

We also caught up on some of the latest whale news from around the world. Hoping the weather clears soon for the Monterey crew! If not maybe they will all have to reunite in Maui. ;)

Thanks for your patience during our hiatus! Katlyn is getting settled in on Maui, Slater just got back from San Juan Islands and Eric has been holding down the fort in Monterey but he did make it out to the Farallon Islands last week! 

Listen in to hear us catch up with each other on all our adventures. We are starting to get in to a routine and we were successful with recording via skype so we should be back on a regular posting schedule soon!

There are multiple breeding areas off the Western North Pacific Ocean where humpback whales go to breed in the winter. We covered a recent paper that covers the use of Japanese waters by humpbacks in more detail.

We had a special guest this week! Taylor came and visited for Slater's all day trip and then came back to record an episode with us. He started in Southern California, then Hawaii and then San Juan Islands. We chatted with him about his experience and how he got his start. He is headed back to Maui next week!

Eric, Slater and Katlyn had an incredible experience earlier this week with humpbacks during an earthquake in the bay too!

We all went to Slater's all day trip! We had an awesome time with some great whale people. We caught up on recent sightings and a little but of whale news as well. 

We had Adam Ernster as a special guest today since Eric was out of town again! He gave us a run down of his summer experience in the San Juan Islands. 

We also briefly talked about sightings in Monterey. Slater's all day trip is tomorrow and we are all going to be on it! 

We also discussed the pros and cons of whale watching, new regulations in the Salish Sea, the use of drones and photo rights as boat crew.

Eric is back from his trip in the North Atlantic! We heard all about his cruise through Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Canada. We also all gave an updated sighting report from Monterey. We will all be on Slater's all day trip on October 11th - there are a few seats left - join us!

Katlyn FINALLY SAW CASPER. After years of poor timing, she got to see Casper twice in the same trip. Katlyn is also moving to Maui at the end of the month! She is taking a job at Pacific Whale Foundation starting the first week of November. 

Slater is back from his trip to the San Juan Islands! What an incredible two days he had for his group up there. Katlyn was holding down the fort in Monterey and Eric is still on his trip in the Atlantic. We chatted about some of Slater's take aways and reflections from his latest trip up north.

We also talked about some conservation topics and a little bit of politics toward the end - register to vote friends! 

Slater and Katlyn are holding down the fort in Monterey while Eric is on vacation. We caught up on recent whale reports including Slater's recent trip on the whale entanglement response this week. Loads of blue whales have shown up this week south of Monterey!

We answered a question from one of our instagram followers. Katlyn also reported in on the law we referenced when we talked about Long Gone Wild called the Orca Welfare and Safety Act for the state of California. 

Big thank you to everyone that has been following along with us! We appreciate all your messages, listens, downloads, follows and patreon contributions! 

We are back after a two week hiatus! We have been pretty busy with work and had a hard time coordinating our schedules. 

We covered a lot of topics and sighting reports to catch up from where we left off in Episode 34. We took a whale quiz sent to us from one of our followers. We also talked about fossils, mola species, new beaked whale species, a ship strike incident in the port of San Francisco, marine debris and an update on the warm water blob event happening off shore.

SPOILER ALERT! We talk about the new film Sea Of Shadows for most of this episode. If you don't want us to ruin some of the suspense, watch the film before you listen to this episode. We also gave our usual whale report from Monterey. Eric also had some info on an internship opportunity with Cascadia Research Collective. 

We are late this week because Eric and Katlyn have been slammed with work! August is the busiest month in Monterey for whale watching and we have had such nice weather that all of our trips have been getting out. We had a few pieces of humpback whale news this week from California and Oregon. 

Weather and whale watching has been incredible in Monterey this week. Get out on the water if you can! (anywhere really)

We attempted our first round of marine mammal trivia. Please send us more questions so Slater can quiz us!

We also gave an updated whale report and some tips on what to do when you see an entangled whale in the US.

We were so excited to talk to Belén for this episode about her work in Iceland. Belén is a marine biologist, wildlife guide, and sailor who works in the whale watching industry and runs a non profit focused on ocean conservation and education. She has also been an integral part of establishing the first Hope Spot in Iceland.

This week we talked about the movie Long Gone Wild that just came out this month. We all watched it together last week.

We also gave a recent sightings report from Monterey. 

Next week Slater wants to quiz Eric and Katlyn on whale trivia so send him some questions on instagram!

Whale action is ramping up in a big way this week in Monterey! We all had great trips this last week. 

We had several questions about dolphins from our followers on instagram. Eric also found a cool paper about bottlenose dolphins and melon headed whales. 

Slater is back from his awesome trip up in the San Juan Islands. He had excellent weather conditions and excellent sightings! Eric and Katlyn had great trips from Monterey as well. Yes, Eric saw a leatherback sea turtle while Katlyn was out on the water... and she did not get to see it. :(

We answered a few questions from our instagram followers this week! We covered some topics about marine resources and news, hydrophones and our heroes in our field. We also talked about happywhale.com.

We covered a little bit of everything in this episode! The day we recorded this episode was International Vaquita Day. The new film about the plight of the vaquita called Sea of Shadows premiers world wide on July 12th. 

We gave a recent update of whale watching in Monterey Bay and some updates from San Juan Islands. The day this episode airs, Slater will be touching down in the Pacific Northwest! Sounds like all the Southern Residents might be back in the Salish Sea.

We also talked about some recent bird sightings in the harbor and the bay. We answered a question about the role food availability plays in whale migration from one of our listeners toward the end of the episode. 

If you have listening to all the episodes up to this point, comment on our instagram post with you favorite species of whale! @whalenerds

This week we talked about the 2018 whale entanglement report from NOAA in addition to other whale news. We talked about beluga whales being moved to a whale sanctuary in Iceland and the recent coverage of the narluga skull that was in the news. 

We also gave an updated trip report from Monterey Bay - lots of humpbacks and dolphins! 

Thank you to Robbie, our newest Patreon follower!

Send us your topics and questions on instagram @whalenerds.

 We all had an excellent week of sightings this week! We have seen killer whales most days out in the bay. Katlyn got to see killer whales attack and chase Pacific whitesided dolphins. Eric has encounters with several different matrelines including some killer whales from the Pacific Northwest. All three of us were able to go on the boat together this week as well and watch two groups of killer whales socialize and even some mating behaviors. 

We had a question come in about swimming with wild cetaceans this week - we discussed our thoughts after our trip reports. We also chatted about a few other recent whale new items. 

Welcome gifts have arrived for our patreon followers! If you sign up you will receive one from us. 

This week we talked about famous whales and dolphins, historical and present, from all around the world. We also gave a trip report from Monterey Bay. Eric and Slater had some great whales, killer whales and dolphins out on the bay. Katlyn taught middle schoolers about ocean animals this week from land too!

What famous whales and dolphins do you know about that we didn't get to mention? Send us a DM on instagram and let us know about famous cetaceans!

We had another special guest this week! We welcomed Pete on to the podcast - he's new to the Monterey area and has joined on as a naturalist and deckhand with a whale watch company. We asked him about his previous experience and wildlife tours in New Zealand.

Sightings in Monterey Bay have been excellent lately! Eric, Pete and Slater have had several great encounters with the CA 51's, a well known family of killer whales this week. Slater and Katlyn also participated in the Monterey World Ocean's Day Beach Clean-Up on Saturday. 

Special shout-out to our first patreon follower! Thank you Maria for supporting our work on patreon.com/whalenerds

We are a little behind schedule this week, but for good reason! Slater took off to San Juan Islands last minute this weekend for a quick trip up north. He had an excellent trip up there and got to see a rare young killer whale!

Eric also had an incredible and rare sighting of Baird's beaked whales in Monterey! Katlyn saw three blue whales last week too. Exciting things!

As a reminder the beach clean up in Monterey is this weekend, Saturday June 8th 2019 from 11:30am-1:30pm. World Ocean's Day is Saturday June 8th so do something nice for the ocean regardless of where you are!

This week we caught up on the recent whale watching reports from Monterey Bay and the north bound gray whale migration which has been a re-occuring topic. 

We also chatted about the issue of marine debris in the ocean. We have two solutions we are going to work on as the whalenerds: participate in a beach clean up and we are going to promote whalenerds reusable water bottles!

We have designed a reusable water bottle that will be made available for our patreon followers! If you subscribe to our podcast for a monthly fee, this will be your first exclusive gift! More details about the benefits of the patreon program will be coming in a future episode and on our instagram account @whalenerds.

Beach Clean Up details:

World Oceans Day Beach Clean-Up

6/8/19

11:30am-1:30pm at Del Monte Beach next to municipal wharf 2

Hosted by Discovery Whale Watch, Portola Hotel, Whalenerd's Podcast and the MCCVB. Sponsored by Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and Rise. 

RSVP link: https://www.facebook.com/events/633111643828387/

Slater is back from his safari trip to Kenya! After talking about whale sightings and safari sightings we chat about how hippos are indeed distant cousins of whales, how scientists figured that out, and what adaptations hippos and whales have to live their semi aquatic and marine lives.

We had some friends visit us in Monterey for a few days! Sarah and Jeff from Maya's Legacy in Washington joined us for an episode during their visit. We all chatted about the trips they went on in Monterey, including Slater's All Day trip. 

Sarah and Jeff shared a lot of information about their experiences with whale watching in the Salish Sea. They also shared a lot of information about the Southern resident killer whales and the new regulations surrounding watching them.

Katlyn is back from her trip to Massachusetts! The day she left there was a gray whale predation event in Carmel Bay which Slater, Eric and Katlyn all got to see at some point during the day. Slater got on it first on the boat and the Katlyn drove down to watch from land, when Eric got off work he went down there to check it out too!

While in Massachusetts Katlyn had great sightings of whales from a boat and on land! She got to see all the things on her wish list: Atlantic Whitesided Dolphins, Sei Whales (lunge feeding) and North Atlantic Right Whales! Slater and Eric had a great week of whale watching in Monterey as well. 

Whale watching action is great all over the Northern Hemisphere! Get out on the ocean if you get a chance - or look for land if you are in the right place. 

Eric is back for this episode! He gave us the full report from the gray whale predation that he was watching while we recorded episode 18. Slater also had a great encounter with the 51's, 51A's, 49C and 50B this week. Killer whale season is ramping up in Monterey Bay! Katlyn's cool sighting for the week was the early morning salp invasion in Monterey harbor. 

We had some random facts thrown in there about oarfish, salps, killer whale families, recent news about the beluga with a harness, and a few other topics. Katlyn takes off for Massachusetts to hopefully see Northern right whales and sei whales this week! Eric and Slater are hoping for a great week with killer whales as well.