Klamath, CA - April Dowd shouted words of encouragement as the whale surfaced, arched a massive gray back, exhaled and turned her 45-foot-long body back toward the bridge.
"It's really beautiful to watch her with her baby," said Dowd, who runs Cher-ere Bridge Campground on the banks of the Klamath River. "She comes up here and talks with us."
Dowd has watched the two gray whales, a mother and her calf, cruise up and down the Klamath River since June 24, creating a rare treat for motorists on Highway 101. But after four weeks, the mother's reluctance to return to salt water has scientists worried.
The baby left the river Saturday and was sighted near the mouth, said Sarah Wilkin, stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. On Sunday, armed with power boats, kayaks and noisemakers, Wilkin and a group of volunteers from the Yurok Tribe and Humboldt State University tried to convince the adult to follow her baby, but with no luck.
"We wanted to give her as much time without intervention," Wilkin said, adding that NOAA has been in constant communication with HSU and the Yurok Tribe since the whales swam up the Klamath. "(Now) we're going to use a little whale psychology to make upriver less desirable than down river."
The gray whales were on their way north from their Baja California breeding grounds when they took a detour into the river, Wilkin said. According to her, scientists aren't sure why the whales swam so far upstream, but they should have been at their feeding grounds in Alaska by now. Gray whales fast when they're away from their feeding grounds, and scientists are worried that the mother whale hasn't been getting enough to eat.
Wilkin said scientists are also worried that the whale could become trapped due to the shrinking water depth, which happens every summer. Also, fishing season starts soon, she said, which will bring more people on the river and more stress for the whale.
While most people were in power boats, Wes Bliven, an HSU physics professor, and Brett Carrothers, a marine biology student, took to their kayaks. Bliven, who had been whale watching before, said he was close enough to reach out and touch her.
"We were trying to herd her downstream," he said. "Our task once the boats got her downstream was to keep her downstream."
Bliven and the power boats plied the river for about five hours while passengers banged hammers, metal pipes, anything to create enough noise to drive the whale back toward the mouth, but she wouldn't budge. Dowd, who watched the whale head downstream only to turn and swim back upstream, said she thought the whale didn't know that her baby is no longer in the river.
"If she knew her baby was out, she'd be out of here," she said.
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