spending the summer around Crescent 

 City, St. George Reef, and Pelican 

 Bay, Oregon, 75 to 100 miles north 

 of Humboldt Bay. In September 1947 

 and June 1948, the writer saw 12 to 

 15 gray whales in Pelican Bay. 



SOUTHWARD MIGRATION 



California gray whales, in the course 

 of their southward migration, are as- 

 sumed to move across the open waters 

 of the North Pacific from the vicinity 

 of the Aleutian Islands to the coast of 

 the United States. They reach the 

 coast at points well north of San Diego, 

 and even north of San Francisco. Gor- 

 don C. Pike (in lit.) has stated that 

 south-migrating gray whales strike 

 the North American coast at a point 

 south of Vancouver Island. Most of 

 them travel close to shore. The main 

 migratory path is several miles wide 

 and usually within one to three miles 

 from shore. Gray whales have not 

 been recorded migrating south at sea, 

 far off the coast of southern Cali- 

 fornia or off Baja California (figs. 

 1 and 2). 



However, some gray whales do mi- 

 grate southward offshore, since they 

 have been seen at Isla Guadalupe and 

 Isla Clarion. The route used in reach- 

 ing these islands is not known. It has 

 been suggested, with little factual 

 basis, that the same whales may move 

 along the Santa Barbara (or Channel) 

 Islands, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa 

 Cruz, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, 

 and San Clemente. Gray whales have 

 been seen approaching land at La Jolla, 

 and off the Coronado Islands, 12 miles 

 south of Point Loma. Others have 

 been seen from aircraft, making their 

 way southward toward the mainland 

 from the tip of San Clemente Island. 

 Records of offshore movements are 

 so few that any attempt to outline 

 routes must be largely speculative. 



Southbound gray whales are usually 

 seen at San Diego during the latter 

 half of November, though not com- 

 monly until after the middle of De- 

 cember. The bulk of the population 

 passes in January, mainly during the 



middle two weeks of the month. By 

 mid -February, the southward migra- 

 tion is virtually over, although a few 

 stragglers have been seen moving 

 south as late as March 25. 



The intensity and duration of the 

 southward migration are illustrated 

 in figure 3. Here are shown the num- 

 ber of whales counted daily at San 

 Diego, with extrapolation for whales 

 passing unseen during the day because 

 of bad weather, during the period from 

 December 19, 1954, to February 15, 

 1955. (In preparing this figure, no 

 extrapolation was made for whales 

 passing unseen at night. See page 21.) 

 Earlier, from November 19 to Decem- 

 ber 18, 28 whales were seen and 

 another 56 estimated, or a total of 84. 

 Later, from February 16 to 28, 8 

 whales were seen and another 8 esti- 

 mated, or a total of 16. The whaling 

 vessel Vega (Risting 1928) began whal- 

 ing on November 14, 1924, in Bahia 

 Magdalena but took only humpback 

 whales until December 27, when the 

 first gray whale was captured. In 1925 

 and 1926, the first gray whales were 

 taken on December 29 and December 

 28, respectively. Migrants began to 

 arrive regularly on January 4, the 

 migration reached its height on Jan- 

 uary 22, and the last whale was taken 

 on February 16. The first arrivals 

 were pregnant females. Males gradu- 

 ally became numerous in January. 

 Gray whales (82) taken here ranged 

 from 30 to 42 feet in length. 



WINTER RANGE 



From early January to the end of 

 February, the California gray whale 

 population is concentrated in the 

 coastal area from about San Diego 

 southeast to Cabo San Lucas and the 

 southern end of the Gulf of California. 

 For convenience, the winter range 

 may be divided into ( 1 ) migrating and 

 wandering areas which are utilized by 

 nonbreeding whales and by whales en 

 route to more southern parts of the 

 winter range, and (2) calving areas, 

 utilized by whales for mating and 

 calving (fig. 4). 



