Fluke Follow Project

Day 3 of the is about to kick off in Palm Beach, Florida 🏖

Want to learn about bubble-net tool use in humpback whales? Check out our poster “UAVs as a behavioural sampling platform documents bubble-net feeding humpback whales in Irish waters for the first time”

Nice to see some results from our work and partnerships with eco-tour operators and other researchers around the world! If you are attending the be sure to check out the full poster in the virtual room!

ORCA Ireland’s marine mammal scientist Emer Keaveney, PhD student and co-authors Davide Lelong, Andy Rogan and Michelle Fournet are presenting some recent research on bubble-net feeding humpback whales in Irish waters with a poster today at Society for Marine Mammals (SMM) Conference 2022!

Find us in the Behavioural section, and let’s chat bubble-netting humpbacks & UAVs (drones)!

Office hours (10:00 am to 3:00 pm)

We also want to say a huge thank you to Darren O’Sullivan of Bantry Bay Charters who made this study possible!

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***ITS A MATCH! 🐋 🥰👏🏻

On the 2nd of August 2019, Rupert Kirkwood submitted a record of “Cream Tea” or ORCI_17/HBUK01 to our humpback whale catalogue. The first U.K. whale to be added to our database. Cream Tea was first sighted off Penzance, Cornwall UK. We have since had other records from the U.K. but up until now have not had a match!

On the 25th of December 2020, Martin Goodie spotted the same whale off St. Mary’s, Isle is Scilly off the Cornish Coast spotted the same whale who he nicknamed “Pi”.

Below you can clearly see the match in images, originally made by Lyndsay McNeil of the Scottish Humpback ID group.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped us gather data by joining our citizen science initiative and using the Observers App and their

Image © Martin Goodie/Rupert Kirkwood.

Congratulations to Greg Coleman who two years ago today, 25th October 2018 captured the first EVER drone footage of a whale in Irish waters!!!! 🐋 ✈️

That whale happened to be a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), the second largest animal on Earth after the blue whale! Note how tiny his enterage of short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) are! 😮

Greg was kind enough to contribute his encounter to our Fluke Follow Project - where we aim to use SUAs (small unmanned aircrafts) to study marine wildlife in Irish waters! With the help of an aerial view, we can gather more insightful information while surveying Irish waters, including enhanced identification, more accurate counts of animals, animal health assessments through body condition analysis and blow sampling.

Are you a drone pilot and want to help out? Send us an email at [email protected] to get more involved.

**New Blog Post: “Can drones protect swimmers from shark attacks?”by Stasa Kamplet - O.R.C. Communications Team.

“When we see or hear about a shark attack on the news, we cannot help but feel a bit anxious. Although it does not happen often, protections in place to protect swimmers from sharks are in-fact, having a serious impact on shark populations in countries such as Australia, South Africa, Brazil and Reunion.”

Can drones protect swimmers from shark attacks? Non-profit organization based in Cork, Ireland, working for the protection and sustainable management of marine megafauna in Irish waters, through research, conservation, technology and education.

Great start to the season and we are all still in Lockdown, just wait til everyone gets out with their drone! =O

This is interesting as there doesn't seem to be a hint of disturbance which is promising for our research =)

Remember though folks follow Best Practices for Droning around Marine Wildlife as found on our website: https://www.orcireland.ie/conservation

Drone footage of a bottlenose dolphin sighted off Enniscrone Beach, Co. Sligo. Stunning footage captured by Aidan Rafter of a bottlenose dolphin off Enniscrone Beach, Co. Sligo. Special thank you to Aidan for the report to the Observers...

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Green Friday Week: Buy One, Get One Tree; Ocean Research & Conservation Ireland Shop. Non-profit organization based in Cork, Ireland, working for the protection and sustainable management of marine megafauna in Irish waters, through research, conservation, technology and education.

New blog Post* "Humpback whales recorded using their pectoral fins to scoop fish for the first time!"

"Humpback whales have been filmed for the first time engaging in unusual feeding behaviour - using their pectoral fins to scoop fish! Humpback whales are known to corral fish into bait balls by surrounding them in streams of "bubble nets" released from their blowholes, then rise up from beneath and engulf their prey with a powerful thrust from their tail tail flukes, but new footage reveals some humpbacks have taken foraging strategies to the next level!"

Humpback whales recorded using their pectoral fins to scoop fish for the first time! Non-profit organization based in Cork, Ireland, working for the protection and sustainable management of marine megafauna in Irish waters, through research, conservation, technology and education.

Stunning images of humpback whales from West Cork this August just gone! 😍🐋

Researchers and photographers are left stunned after high-resolution drone footage captured a blue whale opening it's bowls and turning the waters off Perth, Western Australia, luminous yellow!

https://www.orcireland.ie/blue-whale-captured-with-a-drone-excreting-luminous-yellow-in-the-waters-off-western-australia

Blue whale captured with a drone releasing luminous yellow excrement in the waters off Western Australia. Non-profit organization based in Cork, Ireland, working for the protection and sustainable management of marine megafauna in Irish waters, through research, conservation, technology and education.

For the last few years, the Arctic University of Norways's "Whaletrack" project has been mapping the various aspects of whale migration and behaviour of humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) and killer whales (Orcinus orca) during and after their arrival to the coast and fjords of Northern Norway. In recent years, spring spawning herring have attracted overwintering whales to the area in an event described as a "whale feast", providing excellent opportunity for a research team led by Professor Audun Richardsen to conduct important research using satellite tagging, photo Identification and biopsy sampling.

'Whaletrack' project tracks humpback whales all the way from Arctic feeding grounds and to tropical breeding areas and back again! Non-profit organization based in Cork, Ireland, working for the protection and sustainable management of marine megafauna in Irish waters, through research, conservation, technology and education.

Join us today outside the Western Gateway Building to head to the main quad of UCC to strike for climate change?

Join the Global Strike for Climate, both everyone from anywhere but particularly from the UCC Western Gateway Building are invited to head to the Quad at 11.30 this Friday!!!!!

On Friday 20th September at 11.30 am, following the Global Strike for Climate event organised by the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, UCC in UCC, we are asking staff and students who are in the Western Gateway Building UCC, to join the rest of UCC on the Quad, to stand in solidarity for Climate Change. The President will drop the Green Flag to half-mast in recognition of the fact that, although UCC is proud of all of the environmental achievements, we accept that there is much more to be done.

We will meet outside the front entrance of the Western Gateway Building at 11.15 am and walk together to the quad.

Special thank you to Prof. John O’Halloran and Mark Poland (UCC Green Forum Co-Chairs)for organising the main event. We hope the WGB will do UCC proud and

Join a movement of and RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2178230969136078

•Please Note: everyone from ages 3 to 93 are invited to join us - so if you happen to be in Fitzgerald park, Centra or anywhere near by at this time and you care about climate action - please join us.

UCC Canoe Club UCC Community Garden UCC Environmental Society Ucc-Animal Welfare UCC Feminist Society

“Whaley?”- lets hope it never goes this far 💙🤣😂💙

Wonderful reports this month but the highlight from the Observers App was from Stephen Dunbar who had a relighting of "Alabaster" and has added a new whale never before seen in Irish waters =O

Ocean Research & Conservation (O.R.C.)

With a recent report to the Observers App of a humpback whale from Donegal Bay, we headed north to conduct a boat-based survey of the area over the weekend.

Off the coast of Sligo, we had three encounters with Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), with a max group size during the second sighting event of 25 individuals. These dolphins exhibited a range of surface displays from tail slapping to breaching, side slapping and bow riding! Calves and juveniles were present in the group, consistent with dolphins observed in the south of Ireland at this time of year.

We also encountered a range of seabirds including three Great Skua’s (Stercorarius skua), northern fulmers (Fulmarus glacialis), northern gannets (Morus bassanus), sandwich terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis), kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) and Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus).

Photo credit: Emer Keaveney/ O.R.C.IRELAND.

Humpback whales and fin whales back in numbers foraging off the south coast of Ireland. Yesterday yielded amazing sightings of foraging baleen whales!

This is excellent baseline data for our Fluke Follow Project, providing us with information on whales movements that will help us to better monitor these animals and conduct valuable research into their genetics, ecology and behavior and how human impacts can affect these protected species!

Everyone has been great over the past 10 months with donations but we need to get the momentum going again to try and cover research expenses for this field season and reach our goal of conducting non-invasive drone studies in order to collect genetic and behavioural records of baleen whales off the south coast of Ireland and determine the potential impact of human disturbance from eco-tourism and shipping on these animals.

Please can you help fund this important research and help fund the further development and running costs of the Observers App.

No matter how little or big you can spare it all helps towards the conservation of whales in Irish waters. ORCIreland is a non-profit social enterprise based in IGNITE UCC and is part of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.

https://www.gofundme.com/Fluke-Follow-Project-Whale-Snot-for-Science

Click here to support Fluke Follow Project: Whale Snot for Science! organised by Ocean Research Conservation Ireland Fluke Follow Project: Whale Snot for Science. Hi, I'm Emer, I'm a marine biologist, ocean eduactor and executive director and co-founder of Ocean Research & Conservation Ireland (O.R.C.). I was born and bred in Cork, the south coast of Ireland and I need your help to study whales that visit Ir...

Humpback whale (Megaptera noveaengliae) fun facts for "hump day"! 🐳 💙🐳

Whales of and the

U.N. Report: A Million Extinctions and Ecological Collapse Are on the Way We got ourselves into this mess. It’s high time we got ourselves out of it.

***Re-sighting no. 2 so far this season! ORCI_11 A.K.A. "Fleck"- spotted again by Kieran Collins of Baltimore Wildlife Tours on May 21st. This animal was last seen in by us in May 2018.

What an amazing weekend we had, humpback whales are back in the waters of West Cork and we were lucky enough to have two curiously hang around our platform for research "Radiance" of Baltimore Wildlife Tours!

The real gold at the end of an Irish rainbow!

Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the waters off West Cork.

Photo by: Emer Keaveney taken on-board Baltimore Wildlife Tours over the May bank holiday weekend 💙

HAPPY WORLD TUNA DAY 2019!

This is the first evee drone footage of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in Irish waters taken by professional drone photographer Greg Coleman and contributed to our FlukeFollpw Project!

Did you know? The Atlantic bluefin tuna is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It is variously known as the northern bluefin tuna, giant bluefin tuna [for individuals exceeding 150 kg ], and formerly as the tunny. Atlantic bluefins are native to both the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea!

https://youtu.be/1L2l9lNkHNY

First ever drone footage of Atlantic Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) off the South Coast of Ireland. Atlantic bluefin tuna feeding off the south coast of Ireland captured using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by "ORCireland Observer" & Pro Drone Operator; Greg...

Congratulations Dr. Ailbhe Kavanagh, using drones to measure the body condition of blue whale's, in Antarctic waters. This is similar work to the research we conducted on the fin whale last October and to what we hope to do with humpback whales this summer for our third field season!

| University College Cork Learn, Study and Research in UCC, Ireland's first 5 star university. Our tradition of independent thinking will prepare you for the world and the workplace in a vibrant, modern, green campus.

TOP TIPS FOR SAVING OUR OCEANS! Non-profit organization based in Cork, working for the protection and sustainable management of marine mega-fauna in Irish waters, through research, conservation and education.

"Radiance" the beaut is back in the water and we are delighted that this will be our platform of opportunity for our 3rd field season and second one using drones to follow whales and learn more about them 😍

Amazing footage of a bottlenose dolphin mum and calf foraging in the waters of St. Petersberg U.S.A.

"The drone used in McCarty's video has a telephoto lens, which he says enables him to record video while keeping a safe distance from the animals. The drone also has low noise propellers so as not to disturb wildlife" .



http://www.fox32chicago.com/web/wfld/news/local/dolphin-mom-and-newborn-calf-chase-fish-in-st-pete?fbclid=IwAR13wRtOjWXNMewy7c_IoLa_tCpZ5fLMWPDcR5m-75mT8aabE9njTPcJ6Qs

Dolphin mom and newborn calf chase fish in St. Pete An adorable video shows a dolphin and her newborn calf swimming and chasing fish in the water off St. Petersburg.