Whale Watching: Oregon's Spring Migration

0:00It's March 24, I'm Cory with the story, and this is Canada News today, your AI-powered local news. It's whale-watching week along the Oregon coast, where visitors line up to spot gray whales heading north to their summer feeding spots in Alaska. These massive mammals make one of the world's longest journeys each year, swimming thousands of miles round trip. In winter, they head south to the warm lagoons of Baja California, Mexico, to give birth and nurse their young. From spring, they turn around and migrate back up, sticking close to shore as they pass Oregon on their way to feast on tiny crustaceans for five or six months. Tourists flock from everywhere to scan the horizon from cliffs and beaches, drawn by the thrill of seeing these giants up close. Local rangers note that the whales often hug the coastline during this northward push, making sightings reliable. But these whales face real challenges, especially from climate change. These have noticed fewer calves born since 2019, linked to melting Arctic sea ice that

1:02messes up the nutrient cycle for there. Bottom of the ocean meals. Feeding grounds there are warming much faster than average, cutting prey supplies, while ship strikes and fishing gear add more risks. Right now, as spring rolls on, keep an eye out for mothers traveling with their calves just a few miles offshore, prime time to witness this incredible. Even before they vanish into the northern waters.