Right whales are not known to migrate except for females giving birth to blubber-less calves in warm, nutrient-poor waters. This spring, 11 mother-calf pairs were seen high-tailing it to the plankton-plentiful waters of Cape Cod and the Islands.
Koala, 16, and Curlew, 14, took the more scenic route. In February, they were seen moving back and forth from St. Petersburg, Florida, to the panhandle and on to Dauphin Island, Alabama, much to the amazement, awe, and delight of local researchers.
On April 15, about 50 miles east of Miami off Bimini, the Bahamas, there they were, where right whales are not supposed to be. “Breathtaking” was the first word expressed by people on Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center dolphin-watching tour. “I thought it was fake at first. Once in a lifetime moment for sure!” Their debut made history. Twenty-six other marine mammal species have been documented in the Bahamas.
Koala and Curlew are usually seen in Cape Cod Bay in April. But not in 2025.
By May 15, the rambling rights had passed George’s Banks, Nova Scotia, through the Cabot Strait into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the ocean waters north of Prince Edward Island. The rights traveled approximately 2,200 miles and averaged 74 miles a day, at a speed of 3.3 miles per hour, if they were traveling in a straight line from Bimini. Canadian whale researchers spotted them from an aircraft on May 15.
We really don’t know whales at all. When Koala and Curlew left their natal waters off Jacksonville to swim south instead of north, they traveled 1,200 miles to Alabama. However, they lingered for a month between St. Petersburg, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle instead of heading straight there.
They raced from St. Pete’s to Bimini in three days and evaded detection by several whale research organizations using aircraft from Georgia to the Gulf of St. Lawrence by staying in areas where they were not expected to be.
The lesson of the roving lasses is that whales have much sagacity, an ability to make sound judgments. They are free to alter their behaviors in response to unfolding situations and act in unexpected ways. Life is organizing and working against entropy, the coming undone of everything to a resting state. To live is to respond adaptively to the unexpected, where the one constant is change.
We must, therefore, step away from our preconceived notions, do less figuring, avoid being bound by recited expectations, and observe more clearly. Like the people standing on Ireland’s second-highest sea cliff, Sliabh Liag, on a Monday in July 2024, when a right whale cruised along the shore, they did not rush to small craft to surround the whale for a better look. Instead, they stood their ground and let the whale feed undisturbed in Donegal Bay. Was this right whale related to the one that summered in Ireland in 1910? Only the whales know.
By Dr. Rob Moir, Ocean River Institute
About the Author
Dr. Rob Moir is a nationally recognized and award-winning environmentalist. He is the president and executive director of the Ocean River Institute, a nonprofit based in Cambridge, MA, that provides services, resources, and expertise to support local environmental efforts. Visit www.oceanriver.org for more information.
More from Dr. Rob Moir
- Breathe. Wheel. Flukes Up. Dive. Swim On, Whales!
- Methane-Eating Bacteria & Archaea Saving Earth from the Ravages of Climate Change (and cattle burps)
- The Sultans of Swag Versus Looking at Clouds from Both Sides Now
- Restoring The Climate with Native Plants and Deeper Soils
- Hope for Right Whales
- Cooling the Gulf of Maine Surface Ocean Waters
- Touch the Earth Lightly, Use the Earth Gently
- Easter Island, Hard Work & Good Cheer for a Changing Climate-Challenged World
- Cooling Our Planet: New England’s Battle with Climate Change
- Land & Sea Change for Earth Day, Expanding The Climate Change Narrative
- The Earth and Three Blinkered Scientists
- Fallen Forests and Rising Ocean Fury
- What If There Was a Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary?
- Atlantic Ocean off Florida Spawns a Giant Sargassum Blob Due to Climate Change & Nutrient Pollution
- Emerald Bracelets to Solve Three of the World’s Greatest Environmental Problems
- Slowing Water for Greener Neighborhoods
- Put Down the Federal Stick to Build a Greener Future
- Of Mousy & Elephantine Cycles, Managing The Climate Crisis After Glasgow COP26
- Melting Greenland Ice Sheet, Sea Ice Formation, and the Flow of The Gulf Stream
- A Whale of a Pattern of Thought and Organizing Principle for Community-Based Environmental Management
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