The new month brings a new resident crew: new volunteers, new experiences and more sightings!
Marking the first day of the second month of the 2008 season was exhilarating, to say the least. With a successful completion of transect C the day before, we began our route towards transect B. Within only 5 minutes of leaving Episkopi, Silvia spotted dolphins between Kalamos Island and Mytikas.
Approaching the dolphin location, we soon realized that there were 8 bottlenose dolphins. Among them, we observed LARA and her current calf. Another individual of the pod was LARASON2, the older son of LARA, born in August 1998. The photoidentification done today was important because we discovered LARASON2 to actually be a female, based on a photo of her genital area.
Approximately an hour of behavioural data included lots of social activity and a variety of aerial and percussive behaviour. At times, the pod would surface all together giving us a beautiful image with Kalamos in the background.
With no clear directionality, the pod soon separated with the juveniles heading towards the Mytikas fish farm and leaving the other individuals. Young and energetic, the juveniles showcased some supposed feeding activity although never passing the orange buoys to the centre of the fish farm. The youngsters did not fail to impress: racing, jumping and showing off as they know best.
Having such an exciting first day of July, we are all pumped for what the magical Ionian Seas has in store for us in the coming days of July. Stay tuned for all the action!
Shiva Javdan
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