Humpback Whale Observation

PURPOSE: The purpose of our Humpback whale observation is to compare and observe the behaviors of the Humpback whale. In doing do we will better understand the Humpback whale.

RESEARCH QUESTION: In which month(s) of the peak whale watching season can the most Humpback whales be seen from land and/or boat?

I hypothesize that the most whales will be seen from land or water during the month of March because the whales that are migrating to Hawaii have already arrived and have not started their journey back to Alaska yet.

(McGregor's point, Maui, HI)

On Monday we had our first outside whale observation at McGregor's point. We used the clinometers that we made in class to get a reading of the distance from our location to the whale that we are observing. It is my favorite activity that we have done this whole school year and probably my favorite activity that I have ever done during a science class. My favorite part was being able to use the binoculars and observe the whales from land. I saw a whale breaching through the binoculars and I thought that was really exciting. The most difficult part was trying to get a reading on our clinometers because it was so windy. We saw a lot of whales and it was a pretty successful day.

Clinometer: In order to find the distance from our location to the whale we used a clinometer. A clinometer is an instrument used in order to measure an angle of inclination. Look through the opening on the clinometer and point it at the whale. Your parter will then get the reading of the angle of inclination. The formula used in finding the distance using a clinometer is: Distance= elevation X tangent (--) or distance equals your elevation times the tangent of the angle of inclination. You can find your elevation using a GPS and you can find the angle of inclination using the reading you get on your clinometer. Example: 30 ft X tan (80) = 170.1 Distance= 170.1


PROCEDURE: 


Step # 1: Find a partner. This is crucial to getting an accurate reading on the clinometer.
Step # 2: Gather any materials you might need.
Step # 3: After you have spotted a whale, record the date and time on a data sheet.
Step # 4: Record the number of whales you are observing on a data sheet.
Step # 5: Record the pod type. Is it a competition pod, mother and calf, solo, multiple?
Step # 6: Record the behavior of the whale(s). Is it blowing, breaching, slapping, diving? 
Step # 7: Record the direction in which the whale(s) is/are moving. 
Step # 8: Have your partner read the angle of inclination on the clinometer. Record it on your data sheet.
Step # 9: Use the following formula to get the distance from you to the whale- 
Distance= elevation X tangent (--)
Step # 10: Record the estimated distance from your location with the clinometer instrument.  

This graph of my collected data shows that more whales were seen towards

the middle of the season,  twelve whales in March, than in the beggining of the season,  eleven whales in January.

Conclusion: In which month(s) of the peak Humpback whale watching season can the most Humpback whales be seen from boat and/or land? I hypothesize that the most Humpback whales will be seen during the month of March. 

This is my hypothesis because the whales that plan on migrating to Hawaii during winter have already arrived and are not returning to Alaska until April. My hypothesis was correct because the data proved that there are more whales in March than in January. Possible sources of error are: not enough data collection, misidentification of whale numbers and pod types, complications due to weather, etc.

Super Fun Times on the Whale Watch:  Whale watches have never really been a hobby of mine considering I don't really enjoy being on boats, but this whale watch was a lot more fun than previous whale watches I have been on. For the most part it was peaceful and enjoyable. Time went by faster than it usually does because
we had a task to do, collecting data for our whale labs. Of course it was nice to get outside for class and be in 
the fresh air instead of a freezing, air conditioned classroom and I loved seeing the whales!