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The Whalenerd‘s Podcast is a science communication podcast about whales and other ocean related topics.
Episodes
Monday May 27, 2019
Monday May 27, 2019
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.
Monday May 20, 2019
Monday May 20, 2019
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.
Monday May 13, 2019
Monday May 13, 2019
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.
Monday May 06, 2019
Monday May 06, 2019
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.
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Monday Apr 29, 2019
We had another special guest this week! We are also missing one host. :( Eric was still out on the water the night we recorded until sunset - he was watching the first gray whale predation of the spring season! We can't wait to hear his report next episode.
Slater had his first spring all day trip this past week and whale watching action around the bay has been awesome. Our guest Eva was visiting from the UK and went whale watching all week. She is working on her master's on blue whale genetics at the University of Cambridge. We chatted with her about her background in whales and her project - it was a little science-y for Slater!
Monday Apr 22, 2019
Monday Apr 22, 2019
We had our second special guest this week! Adam Ernster, one of our podcast listeners has been whale watching in Monterey a few times the past month or so and he recently started a new job in Santa Barbara.
Adam claims that he had the best whale watch week ever last week, so we made him give us his trip reports to prove it! He did get to see Southern Resident killer whales, CA 122 transient killer whales, basking sharks and false killer whales. We must say - that was pretty awesome!
Monday Apr 15, 2019
Monday Apr 15, 2019
This week we compiled trip reports from several places around the US that were interesting to us. Right whales in Massachusetts, basking sharks and killer whales in Santa Barbara, blue whales in Newport and all the fun in Monterey Bay.
Slater and Katlyn went to a screening of the documentary Mission Blue which Sylvia Earle was in attendance for! Eric and Slater also chatted about the new Netflix series Our Planet.
We talked about killer whales in Monterey Bay as the season is starting to pick up here. Eric also had the chance to see a harbor seal birth at the Hopkins rookery last week! Spring time is starting to get exciting in central California!
Monday Apr 08, 2019
Monday Apr 08, 2019
Our first special guest was Kate Cummings! She is the owner and operator of Blue Ocean Whale Watch in Moss Landing, CA. Kate was one of the passengers on the recent Cheeseman's Ecology Safaris trip to Antarctica! She gave us an excellent report about her two week trip where she saw whales, penguins, pinnipeds, and lots of ice!
We were so jealous after listening to her report! She had an excellent trip and the weather cooperated for most of the time they were there too.
Monday Apr 01, 2019
Monday Apr 01, 2019
Katlyn just got back from Baja yesterday! She gave a report about all the logistics of the trip and all the whales she saw! Yes, she did get to pet a gray whale. San Ignacio lagoon was incredible!
Meanwhile, Slater and Eric had an absolutely insane week in Monterey! Humpbacks had already been coming in to the bay before Katlyn left, but they have settled in and really been feeding all week!. There have been huge groups of dolphins as well. Slater finally got to see a large group of northern right whale dolphins.
The biggest and best sighting of the week was SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES! L-pod was sighted in the bay on March 31st 2019! This was an incredible sighting of a highly endangered population of killer whales that normally inhabit the surrounding areas of the Salish Sea and southern Canada.
Also, Eric saw an otter eat a bird.
Monday Mar 25, 2019
Monday Mar 25, 2019
We started off this episode talking about lone male killer whales. That conversation led us to a broader conversation about killer whale social groups and defining Bigg's / transient killer whales.
Then we answered a question about comparing whale sizes to everyday objects. For example, a humpback whale is the same length as a school bus!
We also talked about recent whale sightings in California. We can't wait for the spring to be in full swing!
The next episode will be delayed by 1 day to hear Katlyn's recap from Baja on April 2nd when she gets back.