Tag Archives: Dolphins

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Several Coast residents were treated to the sight of two dozen or so Dolphins obviously feeding, as they stayed for over three hours. Ken Bailey took this photo of what I think are Pacific White-sided Dolphins. However, Jodi Smith, of Naked Whale Research, looked at the photos and she says they are Risso's Dolphins. One can be seen breaching.

Pacific White-sided Dolphin breaching by Ken Bailey

Joel Chaban got a photo of their dorsal fins, which you can see slope backward at the top.

Dolphins feeding at Cooks Beach by Joel Chaban

These Dolphins eat mostly squid and some medium-sized fish.  They are not as acrobatic as Pacific White-sided Dolphins but young Risso's Dolphins can be seen breaching, as in Ken's photo.

To learn more about whales, especially Killer Whales, here is the link to Jodi Smith's Naked Whale Research website: http://www.nakedwhaleresearch.org/

Thanks to Ken and Joel for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see more of Ken's nature photography, here is his website: http://www.seadreams.org/

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Ron Le Valley recently photographed several Northern Right Whale Dolphins, Lissodelphis borealis, off the Mendocino Coast. These are small, slender Dolphins found in the North Pacific Ocean. They have no fins or ridges on their smooth, curving backs. They are quite shy and usually avoid boats. They travel in groups of two to two hundred but much larger pods have been seen. In the open ocean, they can travel fast, making low leaps together. These Dolphins are just a little bigger than a grown man. One of their favorite foods is Squid.

To see much more of Ron's work, here's a link to his web site: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/ And I thank Ron for allowing me to share his beautiful photo with you here.

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My neighbor to the east, Emily Nelson, called and said, "Jeanne, I think there are Dolphins out there!" I immediately could see the dark streak in the ocean.

This is the anomaly you look for - a dark line indicates a school of fish or even perhaps Humboldt Squid. I trained my scope on the dark line and, sure enough, there were dark dolphins leaping out of the water.

The Dolphin were at least two miles out in the Pacific Ocean. I wish the photo was better but it will at least give you a feel for what we were seeing. Any day you see Dolphins is a good day!

And, as a bonus, here's a photo from last night's beautiful sunset.