Whale news - June 2021
It's with great excitement we are sharing with you the first glimpses of the Southern Right Whale study’s rebranding to WhaleFace. While it was originally appropriately named the 'SWIFFT Southern Right Whale photo identification project', it didn't quite roll off the tongue. The new name and WhaleFace logo captures the science behind identifying whales (by the patterns of callosities on their heads) and acknowledges your valuable contributions.
The rebrand will be launched on Tuesday, June 8th for World Oceans Day. We encourage you all to share the project link with your friends, family and anyone who has an interest in watching whales and supporting Southern Right Whale conservation.
The WhaleFace community
WhaleFace aims to allow members to easily contribute photos and sightings, build a community of Southern Right Whale citizen scientists, support meaningful scientific research, and receive updates from our researchers.
There are more than 150 people across the state already sharing valuable sightings to our online platform and we hope the WhaleFace community will continue to grow.
Citizen scientists have significantly boosted DELWP’s long-standing Southern Right Whale research program. In 2019, 32 different Southern Right Whales were identified from images contributed by around 20 citizen scientists from across Victoria and New South Wales. Around 60% of all whales photo-identified in the last four years have come from citizen scientists.
Stay tuned for the 2020 whale season figures in future Whale News additions.
Website upgrades
We are pleased to announce several updates to the WhaleFace platform. These will make it easier for you to upload sightings, view the image gallery and stay up to date with the latest news. Three of the changes that you will notice are:
- You can now opt to have your photo shared in the WhaleFace photo gallery or just shared with research team
- We have improved the load speed and search options for the photo gallery
- You can now share a link to your videos when uploading your sighting
First sighting
We’ve received our first confirmed Southern Right Whale sighting for 2021.
Locals out exercising first spotted a single adult at Port Campbell heading rapidly west around 10am on 30/5/2021.
Another sighting was photographed by local Warrnambool residents at Logans Beach on 31/5/2021, allowing us to confirm the species and potentially identify the individual once all photos are analysed.
Whale numbers are likely to increase along the coast of Victoria in coming weeks, as more individuals complete their annual migration from sub-Antarctic feeding grounds to give birth and nurse their young.
Warrnambool’s Logans Beach remains the only established nursery in south-east Australia where female Southern Right Whales return to raise their calves.
Thanks to Rodney Harris for supplying this photo of our first confirmed southern right sighting for 2021.
Every photo counts
Every photo is important. A range of images that help us build a complete picture of the pattern of callosities on a whale's head give us the best chance of accurately IDing an individual. This helps us follow their life histories and understand population trends, movement patterns and habitat use.
So, the more photos, the better! We always welcome multiple photos of the same individual as some callosities may be obscured in a single photo.
To brush up on what makes a great ID photo check out the Photo Identification Guide. If your camera doesn't record GPS coordinates, noting the date, specific location and time of day can be very important to our research.
Stay Covid safe
Remember to stay Covid Safe and abide by the coronavirus restrictions in your area. Updates can be found at: www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au
If you can’t head to the coast just yet, take the time to explore WhaleFace and view some of the whales that have been sighted previously so you’re ready to go when the time’s right.
Kasey and Mandy