 |
. |
 |
Dolphins on Tour of the BayPosted by Shanan Atkins on February 05, 2004 at 09:13:17: Despite perfectly windless conditions, the rain on Saturday (17 January 2004) kept us on the hard until about 11:00 when it finally let up and allowed us to head out to look for humpback dolphins. We didn’t have to go far; they were right there in the Mzingazi Canal just east of Pelican Island. We followed them back, the way we’d just come, to the Zululand Yacht Club and Mzingazi Waterfront. Once there they seemed to chase fish. After we’d spent a little time with them we realized that it was Zipper and her calf, Pip, two Richards Bay residents. Zipper is definitely more than 20 years old. Ben Durham used to see her in Richards Bay in 1991 and she was already an adult because even then she had a calf with her. We were so surprised when, right next to a moored yacht, Free Spirit, Zipper spin-jumped out of the water. We know that the youngsters jump, we suspected that big males may jump sometimes too but we never expected an old lady like Zipper to jump like that! We were very pleased to see that a crowd of people at the Yacht Club had noticed the two dolphins and came to the edge to watch. The dolphins only stayed for a short while before they turned around and headed up the canal again. We’re pretty excited because on the way Pip jumped and Brett took a couple of photographs and we now have on record that he is a young male. The two of them made a beeline for the end of the North Pier, into view of the people standing on the Dolphin Viewing Platform. Suddenly two new dolphins came from the northeast. We instantly recognized them as Toothbrush and Sinbad. We have photos of Toothbrush dating back to 2000 but last year s/he was recorded quite often, frequently with Zipper and Pip. Sinbad just has two tiny notches and isn’t very distinctive, s/he is easy to miss. However, last year we recorded his/her presence relatively frequently as well, mostly with Toothbrush, Zipper and Pip. The play turned into social-travel and the 4 dolphins headed back into the harbour, still circling and spyhopping. They spent the next half hour feeding intensely between Pelican Island and the T-jetty. Shoals of fish surged out the water ahead of the dolphins. On a few occasions, we witnessed dolphins’ jaws clamping down on hapless fish, something we don’t often see. After a while, the number of dolphins around us dwindled until there were no dolphins and so we decided to call it a day. We headed back for Mzingazi Canal and on our way, at the tip of Naval Island, we saw the dolphins again. Again we saw large fish jumping out ahead of the dolphins. This time it was quite plain to see that the dolphins were herding the fish into shallow water. This brought them very close to the Naval Island beach and once again attracted human attention. They then seemed to hurry around Naval Island, on their way to the Small Craft Harbour. They detoured briefly to meet up with another 2 residents: mother-calf pair Ivory and Tusk. The six dolphins fed quite intensely in the Small Craft Harbour in plain view of Naval Island’s beach goers and fishermen on the quayside. They did this for another 20 minutes or so before heading out into the main channel, off towards the Coal Terminal. By now it was 15:00 and the wind was really blowing, we were struggling to follow them and this forced the end of a very productive dolphin follow that had been seen by many of Richards Bay’s human residents and visitors. To view the pictures that accompany this newsletter go to www.dolphins.org.za and click on news.
| ||
 |
Powered by WildNet Africa - Your Link With Africa's Wildlife |
 |