Pete Thomas Outdoors

False killer whales make rare appearance in Sea of Cortez

Pete Thomas — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:25:07 -0700

Mark Rayor has lived in Baja California's East Cape region for more than 15 years, guiding sportfishing and diving trips.

He has seen plenty. But on Monday morning, Rayor was visited by a pod of cetaceans that he could not positively identify.

They turned out to be false killer whales, which are large toothed whales that generally reside in the open ocean.

The rare sighting was at about 8 a.m. at the northern end of Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.

"We have seen what I thought were false killer whales but they looked different," Rayor said. "At first that is what we thought they were but then we had doubts. They just hung around and played with our panga until we left."

False killer whales were named because they share feeding habits of some killer whales--notably because they also attack and kill other cetaceans.

They're smaller than killer whales, however, measuring to about 20 feet (females to about 15 feet) and weighing to about 1,500 pounds.

Like killer whales, false killer whales establish strong social bonds and typically travel in groups of 10 to 20.

They're also known to strand on beaches, sometimes in much larger groups, in some parts of the world.

False killer whales are studied extensively in Hawaiian waters, where one of three distinct populations--a tiny population associated with the main islands--was recently listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

--Pete Thomas

--Photos of false killer whales are courtesy of Mark Rayor/Jen Wren Sportfishing

Killer Oklahoma tornado as seen from the air (time-lapse)

Pete Thomas — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:08:22 -0700

As rescue crews continue to search for survivors of Monday's devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, and as what's left of the community struggles to cope, footage has emerged that helps to illustrate the magnitude of a twister that at one point was two miles wide.

The accompanying video, a stunning time-lapse, is one such example, minus the bodies and gore. The footage was captured by a photo crew aboard an OKC TV helicopter that was flying adjacent to the tornado.

At least 24 people, including children, were confirmed dead at the time of this post.

Emerging details, especially those regarding children at Plaza Towers Elementary School, are especially heart-wrenching. We'll leave the reporting of those grisly facts to news crews, but wanted to show people the scope and speed of a tornado that leveled virtually everything in its path.

Best wishes to Moore, and to other communities in tornado country.

As Gov. Mary Fallin said to reporters, "It's a terrible, terrible day for Oklahoma."

Stranded 'white shark' in Venice actually a salmon shark

Pete Thomas — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:09:36 -0700

A YoVenice blogger on Saturday posted two photographs showing what he identified as a baby great white shark, which he helped rescue after the shark had stranded itself on the shore in Venice Beach, Calif.

However, shark expert Chris Lowe says the fearsome-looking junior predator, which sort of resembles a white shark, is a salmon shark.

Asked how he could tell the difference, Lowe replied via email: "Really dark back, sometimes splotchy. White above the pectoral fins (key ID characteristic). Short, pointy nose. Large eyes. Double caudal fin keel."

The blogger, Robert DM, stated that he encountered the shark near the breakwater during an early-morning walk, and that he managed to "throw" the shark back into the water.

A surfer then "took it on his board past the rocks and let it swim away."

Salmon sharks prey largely on salmon, but also eat squid and other fishes. They typically range in Alaskan waters from spring through fall, but there have been sporadic sightings recently off Southern California.

They can measure to about 10 feet and weigh nearly 1,000 pounds, and though they boast a fearsome appearance salmon sharks have never been positively identified in attacks on humans.

Lowe, who runs the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, said salmon sharks that strand themselves on beaches typically suffer from brain ailments caused by bacteria.

The biologist added that the shark rescued in Venice "probably won't survive."

--Pete Thomas

Grizzly bear decides video camera looks too good to pass up

Pete Thomas — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:17:32 -0700

If you ever wondered what it would look like to be mouthed by a grizzly bear, here's proof that it would not be a pleasant experience.

Brad Josephs, a wildlife biologist and expedition leader for Natural Habitat Adventures, got the footage while in Alaska filming "Great Bear Stakeout" which was shown on BBC One and Discovery Channel.

Josephs said that the above video was "filmed with a GoPro camera that I strapped to a rock with a rubber band! The first bear to appear is an older mother, and the second is her 3-year-old cub. The bear only gently mouthed the camera, and didn't even put a dent in it!"

Josephs also shares some other behind-the-scenes footage on his website that was obtained during the making of the documentary.

-- Kelly Burgess

Necessary to stow gear while transiting a marine reserve?

Pete Thomas — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:35:33 -0700

In support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: I would like a definition of "stowed" in regard to fishing gear while transiting a state marine reserve. The reason I ask is that a sport fisherman reported he was stopped by a patrol boat at the Channel Islands and told he could have been cited for having his rods in the rod holders. He was told he should have had them in his small cuddy.

It does not seem reasonable to require my buddies and I "stow" all our rods and reels in my cabin every time we need to make a move across a state marine reserve. Or when we are at an island, we should not be required to drive six miles out, then whatever distance across, and then back in another six miles … at $4 or more a gallon. All of this would be quite a hardship for those of us fishing from private sport boats just to stow our fishing gear when maneuvering around state marine reserves. (Fred H., Anaheim)

Answer: There is no requirement for equipment to be stowed under the Marine Life Protection Act laws covered in section 632 of the California Code of Regulations Title 14. CCR Title 14, section 632(8) covers the law you are referring to as follows:

Transit or Drifting. Vessels shall be allowed to transit through marine protected areas and marine managed areas with catch onboard. Fishing gear shall not be deployed in the water while transiting through a state marine reserve. Fishing gear, except legal fishing gear used to take species identified as allowed for take in subsection 632(b), shall not be deployed in the water while transiting through a state marine recreational management area, state marine park or state marine conservation area.

 Q: My Italian grandmother asked my brother and me to bring home some fresh octopus so that she can make her favorite pasta dish. The only problem is we don’t know how to catch them. Can you help us out? (Joe K.)

A: You will have to be creative on this one. Fortunately, there are no size limits on octopus and the bag limit for each of you is 35 (CCR Title 14, section 29.05(a)). California sport fishing regulations allow you to catch them only by hook and line or with the hands (CCR Title 14, section 29.10(a)). You cannot catch them with traps or spears. The most common way to successfully catch them in California is by hand while diving with snorkel or scuba equipment. It’s also unlawful to use any chemicals, such as bleach, to attempt to disturb octopi from their hiding locations.

Q: I was wondering if it is legal to use electronic calls for animals and birds out of season for things such as bird watching or scouting? I have heard yes and no from different people, so I want to clarify. Also is it even legal to call with non-electronic calls out of season? (Taylor F.)

A: Yes, this would be legal as long as you do not have any methods of take with you. The prohibition against electronic calls only applies when "taking" birds/mammals (Fish and Game Code, section 3012 & CCR Title 14, section 475(b)).

Q: Yesterday we collected a few mussels at low tide at Chicken Ranch Beach with the kids (past the Inverness Yacht Club). They are of a decent size, about 3 to 4 inches, and all black. Are they safe to eat? (Ben)

A: Don’t eat those mussels! There is currently an advisory out against consuming sport-taken shellfish in Marin County – please see www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR13-009.aspx. A great Q&A about mussel quarantines is located at www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/MusselQuarantineFAQ.aspx. The California Department of Public Health shellfish biotoxin information line is (510) 412-4643 or toll-free at (800) 553-4133 – you can check with them at any time to see whether there are advisories in effect for your area. And finally, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife posts advisories on the CDFW website at www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/healthadvisory.asp.

If you have a question you would like to see answered in this column, e-mail it to CalOutdoors@wildlife.ca.gov.

Image courtesy of Carrie Wilson

Alabama angler's enormous striped bass is a world record

Pete Thomas — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:25:07 -0700

An Alabama angler has learned that a humongous striped bass he landed in late February has been approved as a world record.

James Bramlett, 65, caught the 69-pound, 9-ounce striper in Alabama's Black Warrior River.

The catch, weighed on a certified scale, exceeds the previous record, set in 1959, by 15 pounds

Joe Songer of AL.com met with Bramlett soon after the catch and took the photo that accompanies this post.

Songer also broke the news this week that Bramlett was notified by the International Game Fish Association about his record submission being approved in the landlocked striped bass category.

Bramlett's striper, caught after his ailing wife had persuaded him to go fishing, measured 44.1 inches long and boasted a girth of 37.75 inches.

Songer's photo is an eye-catcher and when we posted the story of Bramlett's catch on March 6, several people commented that the photo looked fake because there's no way Bramlett could have held up so large a fish so easily.

If you look closely, though, the fish is hanging on a stringer.

Bramlett landed the behemoth after a 25-minute struggle while several witnesses watched from boats and shore.

--Pete Thomas

Photo is courtesy of Joe Songer/Al.com

Blackbird catches midair flight... atop a red-tailed hawk

Pete Thomas — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:32:47 -0700

Sometimes, when relentlessly fighting off hawks, blackbirds need a place to rest.

Or so it might seem to anyone viewing a remarkable image captured recently by Bay Area photographer Eric Dugan.

It shows a red-winged blackbird standing atop a soaring red-tailed hawk as if it were catching a ride to some other destination.

Dugan's images, captured at Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area in Northern California, appeared Tuesday in the San Francisco Chronicle. He described the event to outdoors columnist Tom Stienstra:

"I was exploring the wildlife refuge and heard the screech of a red-tailed hawk, loud and repeated. I scanned the sky but didn’t see anything at first. Then, in the distance, I saw a young red-tailed hawk sitting on a telephone pole and the red-winged blackbirds were jumping on and off its back and head, apparently to drive it away from a nesting area.

"I immediately stopped, changed to my long lens and set up my camera in anticipation for the show. As I walked closer, I anticipated that the hawk would take flight and the blackbirds would pursue it, to drive it out of their territory. I raised the camera and the blackbird actually landed on the hawk multiple times.

"The small bird was so far more maneuverable in flight that all the hawk could do was tolerate it and fly away."

Dugan explained via email that the photos "are 100% legit" and that his only edits were exposure- and shadow-related because lighting was harsh at certain points because of the bright sunshine.

"I went back to the same spot a few days later hoping lightning would strike twice," he said. "But the red-tailed hawks were hunting way off in the distance."

--Pete Thomas

Gray whale spotted off Namibia is first to be documented in Southern Hemisphere

Pete Thomas — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:54:58 -0700

Photographs of a gray whale spotted off this past week off Namibia represent the first-ever documentation of the species (Eschrichtius robustus) in the Southern Hemisphere.

Additionally, the mammal is only the second-known gray whale to have been documented in the Atlantic Ocean in modern times. The other was was spotted in 2010 off Spain and Israel.

"I think it's really exciting; it's amazing, actually," said Amiee Lang, a spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the photos."

(Note: A similar post appears on the GrindTv Outdoor blog.)

The 2010 sighting was described by one scientist as "the most amazing sighting in the history of whales," so imagine the buzz this latest sighting--in an area that has no history of gray whales--will create among marine mammal enthusiasts once it's widely reported.

It's prpbable that both animals entered the Atlantic via the Northwest Passage, which has been partially free of ice for brief periods during the past four years. Gray whales used to inhabit the North Atlantic, but that population became extinct in the 1700s.

The whale off Namibia, photographed by the Albatross Task Force and Walvis Bay Strandings Network, is not believed to be the same whale spotted off Spain and Israel.

"It's tantalizing because its a mystery," said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a researcher with the American Cetacean Society. "We don't know how this whale got so far from where gray whales are supposed to be."

Said Lang: "I'm curious what the whale has been able to eat or what it's finding for food. It looks a little skinny in the photos."

There are only two existing gray whale populations. There's a recovered population of about 22,000 in the eastern Pacific; those mammals range from Arctic waters (Alaska region) to Baja California.

There's also a critically endangered population of about 130 animals in the western Pacific. They range from Russia to the Korean Peninsula.

The gray whale off Namibia was first spotted May 4 by crews aboard dolphin tour boats in the Pelican Point area in Walvis Bay. They were not sure what type of whale it was until a week later, on Sunday (May 12), when a member of the stranding network confirmed that it was a gray whale.

"The question is now, What is the origin of this whale," John Paterson wrote on the Namibia Dolphin Project website. "Is it another individual that has traversed the Northwest Passage, or perhaps traveled around the southern tip of South America and across the Atlantic?"

Schulman-Janiger, who runs the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project in Southern California, said it's more likely that the whale traversed the Northwest Passage.

"It just makes more sense because there are so many gray whales up in that area during the summer, and that if the ice was clear it'd just swim right through into the Atlantic," she said.

"It makes less sense that a whale that's supposed to stop off Baja would just keep going and swim all the way down to the tip of South America near the Antarctic and enter the Atlantic that way."

Said Wayne Perryman, a gray whale expert with NOAA Fisheries: "I think it's just blind luck for a whale to get through. It's like a maze up there. My guess is that it was feeding and looking for food, and when ice formed behind it the whale probably just kept going. These animals are ranging farther north and east to find food so that makes the most sense."

Schulman-Janiger said that this sighting and the 2010 sighting could be a sign of the times in this era of climate change, and that if gray whales can make it into the Atlantic, other species in the Atlantic can make it into the Pacific.

Meanwhile the Walvis Bay Stranding Network is trying to keep tabs on the lost and lonely gray whale, and is asking locals to share sightings information.

--Photos showing the gray whale off Namibia are courtesy of John Paterson/Namibia Dolphin Project. Graphic showing possible routes taken by the whale, and another that showed off Israel in 2010, is courtesy of artist Uko Gorter

In must-see video, hunter catches flying quail with bare hand

Pete Thomas — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:00:12 -0700

Two words you don't not expect to hear from your partner during a quail-hunting trip: "Sweet catch!" But then it's not often--and it might be unprecedented--that a hunter reaches into midair and clutches a fast-flying quail with his bare hand. And if you're wondering whether the accompanying footage is real, consider that it was uploaded by the Austin Stone Community Church in Texas.

Also, the hunting partner making the "Sweet catch!" remark is San Francisco 49er quarterback Colt McCoy.

The man fielding the incoming quail, casually, with his shotgun in his other hand, is Senior Pastor Matt Carter.

"It is totally real," Travis Wussow, executive director of teaching ministries at the church, told GrindTv Outdoor. "While filming [the church uses creative storytelling, including films, to spread the gospel], inexplicably this bird takes off and stupidly flies right at Matt, and he grabbed it. It’s unbelievable…

"I was there and watched it happen. It’s totally unbelievable."

There was a film crew on site and it captured hunting's version of the "Immaculate Reception" from three angles.

What's not clear is what Carter did with the quail or, if he kept it, whether barehanded capture is a legal method of take.

--Pete Thomas

Orca gives surfing exhibition behind Malibu Baywatch boat

Pete Thomas — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:46:25 -0700

Last week we shared a story about killer whales surfing in a boat's wakes off La Paz, Mexico, and referred to prior sightings of this this rarely observed behavior elsewhere in the Sea of Cortez.

Now there's evidence, courtesy of boat captain Eric Astourian of Baywatch Malibu, that at least one orca has been surfing recently off Southern California.

The accompanying video shows a young killer whale, or orca, riding behind a Baywatch boat on May 4 off northern Malibu. (The footage was uploaded to YouTube on Saturday.)

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a killer whale researcher, says the mammal probably is a 2 1/2-year-old female cataloged as CA51d and nicknamed Comet because of its distinctive eyepatch. (Comet is pitcured at right in a photo taken in 2011 off Point Fermin on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.)

That would make sense because the CA51 family group of transient killer whales has been spotted recently in Southland waters--most recently on Saturday off Dana Point.

Though most transient killer whale sightings occur farther north and specifically in the Monterey area, the CA51s are becoming regular visitors to Southern California, and they're famously boat friendly.

They include the mom (CA51), her 15-year-old son (CA51B), her younger son (CA51C), and Comet (CA51D).

--Pete Thomas

Photo credit: Alisa Schulman-Janiger