%0 Journal Article %1 burns_between-year_2012 %A Burns, Daniel %A Brooks, Lyndon %A Clapham, Phil %A Harrison, Peter %D 2012 %J Marine Mammal Science %K Australia, Megaptera migration, novaeangliae, sightings %R 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00557.x %T Between-year synchrony in migratory timing of individual humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00557.x/abstract %X Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, undertake long annual migrations from high-latitude summer feeding grounds to low-latitude winter mating and calving grounds (Mackintosh 1942, Dawbin 1966). Studies of migratory timing in this species have been generally focused at the population level, or on age class cohorts within a population, although the volume of information about individual migration patterns remains limited. Using extensive whaling data from the 20th century, Dawbin (1966, 1997) described the temporal segregation of different age classes of humpback whales on migration. On both directions of the migration, the earliest and last whales in each category traveled approximately 6 wk before and after the central peak for that category (Dawbin 1966). Mattila et al. (2001) described the “temporal fidelity” of humpback whales on their West Indies breeding grounds, with individual females tending to be seen “on or about the same day (of the year)” in subsequent years. Consistency in the timing of three individual humpback whales off the coast of Ecuador has also been reported by Félix and Haase (2001), with intervals of 0, 7, and 21 d, respectively, between the day of the year sighted for these whales. However, both historic whaling data (Dawbin 1997) and more recent across-year sightings data of individual whales (Craig et al. 2003) suggest that female humpbacks tend to arrive at and depart from the breeding grounds earlier in years when they do not have a calf than in years when they give birth. In this study, we report on the migratory timing of 22 individual humpback whales photographed in more than one year off the eastern coast of Australia from 2003 to 2007. Fieldwork for this project was based off the coast of Ballina (28°52′S, 153°35′E) in northern New South Wales, approximately 25 km south of Cape Byron, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland (Fig. 1). This location is approximately 4,000 km north of the Antarctic feeding grounds and 1,000 km south of the generally described breeding grounds for east coast Australian humpback whales (16°–21°S, Marsh et al. 1997, Chaloupka and Osmond 1999).

@article{burns_between-year_2012, abstract = {Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, undertake long annual migrations from high-latitude summer feeding grounds to low-latitude winter mating and calving grounds (Mackintosh 1942, Dawbin 1966). Studies of migratory timing in this species have been generally focused at the population level, or on age class cohorts within a population, although the volume of information about individual migration patterns remains limited. Using extensive whaling data from the 20th century, Dawbin (1966, 1997) described the temporal segregation of different age classes of humpback whales on migration. On both directions of the migration, the earliest and last whales in each category traveled approximately 6 wk before and after the central peak for that category (Dawbin 1966). Mattila et al. (2001) described the “temporal fidelity” of humpback whales on their West Indies breeding grounds, with individual females tending to be seen “on or about the same day (of the year)” in subsequent years. Consistency in the timing of three individual humpback whales off the coast of Ecuador has also been reported by Félix and Haase (2001), with intervals of 0, 7, and 21 d, respectively, between the day of the year sighted for these whales. However, both historic whaling data (Dawbin 1997) and more recent across-year sightings data of individual whales (Craig et al. 2003) suggest that female humpbacks tend to arrive at and depart from the breeding grounds earlier in years when they do not have a calf than in years when they give birth. In this study, we report on the migratory timing of 22 individual humpback whales photographed in more than one year off the eastern coast of Australia from 2003 to 2007. Fieldwork for this project was based off the coast of Ballina (28°52′S, 153°35′E) in northern New South Wales, approximately 25 km south of Cape Byron, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland (Fig. 1). This location is approximately 4,000 km north of the Antarctic feeding grounds and 1,000 km south of the generally described breeding grounds for east coast Australian humpback whales (16°–21°S, Marsh et al. 1997, Chaloupka and Osmond 1999).}, added-at = {2017-01-09T13:57:26.000+0100}, author = {Burns, Daniel and Brooks, Lyndon and Clapham, Phil and Harrison, Peter}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/227f495865807cbcdb07d90998b902a98/yourwelcome}, copyright = {© 2012 by the Society for Marine Mammalogy}, doi = {10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00557.x}, interhash = {91155c10d24e130001c5fd9eb9c3cd6e}, intrahash = {27f495865807cbcdb07d90998b902a98}, issn = {1748-7692}, journal = {Marine Mammal Science}, keywords = {Australia, Megaptera migration, novaeangliae, sightings}, language = {en}, timestamp = {2017-01-09T14:01:11.000+0100}, title = {Between-year synchrony in migratory timing of individual humpback whales, \textit{{Megaptera} novaeangliae}}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00557.x/abstract}, urldate = {2012-06-20}, year = 2012 }