On Sunday and Monday, March 11th and 12th 2018, whales entered the Smith River in northern California. To be honest, I don’t know for sure if there were multiple whales or just one, but there were at least three different times over two days when a whale was in the river. In talking with people who have lived here for a long time, some of them all their lives, no one can remember ever seeing whales in the river.

Whales are tough subjects to photograph, mostly because they stay underwater about 95% of the time. And although I had a nice vantage point from above the water, the choppy conditions and the cloudiness of the river due to recent rains made it difficult to see or anticipate where the whale might surface next. Having said all that, what a sight it was! There were times when the whale was less than fifty feet away! I was and still am awestruck. What an amazing experience!

Whale Spouting

After observing this incredible event, I was curious about what kind of whales they were. And why they might be in the river. In my searching and reading, I discovered that these are Pacific Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus), which are commonly seen migrating along the Pacific Coast.  Here is an interesting article with a map of gray whale migration.

Whale Blow Holes

One of the identifying characteristics of gray whales is they have two blow holes. This causes their spouts to go up in a ‘V’ shape. Another way to tell gray whales from other whales is their lack of a dorsal fin. Instead, they have a large dorsal hump, which can be seen just above the water in the photo below.
Whale Moon

The photo above was taken in the late afternoon on Sunday, March 11th. The photo below was taken in the morning of the same day. I believe it is the same whale because of the crescent moon shaped mark on the whale’s side, just forward of the hump. This particular whale exited the river late Sunday morning and then returned several hours later.

Whale Moon Mark

There is some speculation that whales rub themselves on the ocean bottom and on rocks to remove barnacles. It’s not that the barnacles bother them, but more that they provide a place for whale lice to take up residence. The whale(s) that I observed in the river were swimming around a small area with many large rocks above and below the surface. There were no visible mud trails in the water, which would indicate they were feeding on bottom-dwelling crustaceans, as they do in the ocean. Maybe they were using the rocks at the mouth of the Smith River as a big loofah.

Whale Dorsal

This image is from one of the closest passes, which was made on Monday morning, March 12th. Here, you can clearly see the dorsal hump. Since the Monday morning visit was rather short compared to the other visits, and since I never saw the other side of it’s back, I cannot be sure if it was the same whale that visited twice the day before. During all three of these episodes, I kept hoping for a fluke. Sadly, the whale(s) never felt like lifting a tail out of the water. Below is the closest I got, where you can see the outline of the whale’s tail, just below the surface of the water.

Whale Tail

I was fortunate enough to get a wave from a pectoral fin, though.

Whale Wave

I have many photographs of these encounters, which are mostly documentary. If you are a researcher who studies these amazing creatures and you would like copies of the photos, I would be happy to share them. Please contact me here.

All in all, it was an amazing experience to see these massive creatures in a relatively small space. I continue to be humbled and awed by nature as I seek out encounters with creatures of all types and sizes.