We had an amazing Labor Day weekend here at Discovery Whale Watch with great weather and animal sightings! The reliable humpback whales are still in the area and still provided us with great looks. Dolphins were seen this holiday weekend too, we got looks at Pacific white-sided dolphins and Risso’s dolphins. One of our more outstanding finds happened Monday when our passenger got to experience a pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins with some very young calves! Like the name says, coastal bottlenose dolphin live along our coast and rarely move further than 1-2 miles from shore. If you happen to catch some dolphins playing in the surf, most likely you are seeing coastal bottlenose dolphins. These animals cruise our coastline in search of food such as various types of perch, rockfish and others that live in the shallows. We didn’t always see coastal bottlenose in Central California, they were considered an animal that preferred warmer waters such as those off the Southern California coast. Their range did expand after a El Nino event and now some of these dolphins have been spotted just north of the San Francisco Bay.
A tiny coastal bottlenose dolphin swims along the surf with its pod. Photo by naturalist Eric Austin Yee
A coastal bottlenose dolphin foraging in the surf. Photo by naturalist Eric Austin Yee
A tiny coastal bottlenose dolphin swims along the surf with its pod. Photo by naturalist Eric Austin Yee
