The Whalenerd‘s Podcast

This week we took a little time to check in about all the things coming to whalenerds this spring. Our trips are filling quickly for spring whale watches in April. If you are thinking of booking - we recommend booking sooner rather than later! You can check out our site for more info www.thewhalenerds.com We have also added a beach clean up to our calendar for Earth Day! Check out our website for...

This week we talked about technology being applied in new ways to study marine mammals. We covered several articles about using satellite imagery to identify and count a variety of whale species around the world. We also talked about a cool new program with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, USGS and NASA to track sea otters in California. Applying AI to satellite technology could really be a game changer...

This is our final episode in our three part series on climate news for our oceans and whales. We talked about how oceanographers are using whaling logs to create baseline data sets for our changing oceans. We also had a follow up on a few topics we had previously discussed in Episodes 100 & 101 and in previous episodes from earlier in the podcast. We ended with parts of an essay written about by a...

We continued with our theme of climate news for this episode. Unfortunately it was not good news. Our topics mostly focused on how the arctic ecosystem is changing due to melting sea ice and less ice coverage in the region. Many animals are not handling the challenges of their changing environment well, but some animals like killer whales, are experiencing new habitats that they previously did not...

This week's topics were not really about whales, but we had plenty of announcements and whale sightings to catch up on to make up for it! After all of our announcements and reports, we talked about things in hot water. Our topics are about remnants of the warm water blob events in recent years that are still being studied and documented today. Many aspects of the marine ecosystem were affected by...

Happy New Year! We took a look back at some memorable moments for us in 2021. Whalenerds as a brand and platform has grown so much, thanks to all of you! We can't wait to see what 2022 has in store for us. 

Slater and Adam had quite the encounter with some less frequently sighted killer whales in Monterey Bay. They shared their experience on the episode this week. This is also a great time of year to remind everyone of the places you can see whales from shore as they migrate down the coasts of the US and around the Hawaiian islands. You can also see elephant seals from shore in California as they ent...

This week we talked about the most endangered of all the right whale species - the North Pacific right whale. There are likely less than 60 of these whales across two populations in the North Pacific Ocean. We had some recent reports from NOAA about sightings and population estimates. We, of course, will keep looking and hoping that we see one someday.

We hope this episode doesn't actually find you the day after US Thanksgiving - because you're doing something awesome outside. But if it does, take a moment to appreciate nature and show the planet your gratitude - it works hard everyday to take care of us. Our topic this week is a slight break from the norm. We decided to share some stories and perspectives from indigenous people in the Alaskan a...

This is part two of our two part series that started last week. If you haven't listened to episode 94 - you might find it helpful to go back and listen to that one first. This week we built on the idea of ocean carbon sinks and talked about this concept of Blue Carbon. We wrapped up this episode with a new article about how much food baleen whales actually feed everyday. Spoiler alert - it's total...

This is part one of a two part series of episodes this week and next week. We talked about the oil spill that happened in California at the beginning of October. This led us to an article about a transient killer whale population that has been studied since they swam through the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. We wrapped up part one talking about how whales generate and promote life and how they c...

Remember Erica from Episode 56? She's back and her book is out now! We had a little chat with her about the process of her book and she did a reading for us from her new book Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis.

Wow. That's the best three letters we can use to describe whalenerds weekend. Our first in person event was INCREDIBLE. We couldn't have asked for better weather, better people, or better whales. In this episode we recap the weekend for those of you who could not be there. If you want to join in on the fun with us in the spring - we are hosting three single day trips on April 22, 23, and 24 of 202...

We are back after a week off! Everyone had great sightings since the last time we recorded and the excitement is growing for Whalenerds Weekend in just a few short weeks. This week we talked about an article shedding some light on whales that were still killed by whalers even though they never made it to the ship for processing. It's an interesting and important aspect to consider when reflecting...

After our host updates from our daily adventures on the water, the nerds take you through the history of right whales. The most rotund of the baleen whales, right whales have had a tough go in the modern world. After their rebound from the whaling era, the population of North Atlantic right whales has begun to take a turn. We talk about a paper that goes through the NARW's history, population esti...

This week we took a little different strategy than our usual episodes. Instead of talking about news or research we told some stories and talked about sightings past and present. We are so excited for the trip in October, we can't wait to make new memories together during our favorite time of year in Monterey Bay

This week we talked quite a bit about sound, mostly from the frame of humpback whales. We all have been listening to the MBARI hydrophone off and on this week (let's be honest, we listen to it all the time) and this is the time of year that the humpbacks start to making vocalizations that sound more and more like song.  We are so excited to have Research Specialist John Ryan from MBARI speak at Wh...

We had a special guest to go along with an incredible sightings report from Monterey Bay. This week Kate Cummings from Blue Ocean Whale Watch joined us to talk about all the action on the bay this summer. We are using her company for our trips during Whalenerds Weekend in October! To check out the trip and to make a booking please go to thewhalenerds.com/trips Katlyn has had some pleasant sea cond...

This week we talked about the current state of ropeless fishing gear in the United States. Katlyn had a very interesting encounter on one of her trips recently that inspired this topic. Many strides have been made to improve fishing gear and make it safer for whales, but ropeless seems to be the way of the future. 

This week’s theme was bottlenose dolphins! We covered news and recent papers from all over the world. Information about behaviors, communication, reproduction, conservation - and even a little drama and potential scandal! Bottlenose dolphins are much cooler and more interesting than most people give them credit for. 

This week had an exciting announcement! Tickets for Whalenerds weekend are now on sale. You can purchase tickets for this event happening in October on our website  thewhalenerds.com Our theme for this week’s episode is vaquitas. A sad but necessary topic. We talked about some research updates and recent news in regard to the fishing free zone in Mexico. The plight of the vaquita should be a lesso...

Reunited and it feels so good! Slater, Adam, and Katlyn were all back together for this episode. We spent a lot of time catching up and introducing a few projects that are in the works! Then we covered some new publications from this year about killer whales in the northern hemisphere. 

We had a special guest this week. Rebecca Giggs, author of the book Fathoms: The World in the Whale joined us for this episode. We talked about her book and part of her journey while writing it. The book is out now as an audiobook and hardback, but will be released on paperback on July 20th.

We were able to chat with Josh Zeman - the journalist and narrator of the new film The Loneliest Whale - The Search for 52 for this week's episode. The film is now in theaters and will be available on digital on July 16th. 

This week we had the chance to chat with one of our favorite authors Nick Pyenson! We absolutely love his book Spying on Whales. We talked about the book often in the earliest episodes of our podcast. It is a great set of stories about his work over the years as a scientist and paleontologist. Spying on Whales is available as an excellent audiobook but also in print in stores and online. Here is a...