The Log

Season 2002

April 18, 2002 - The whales are singing tonight under a beautiful crescent moon and magnificent stars. Hawai'i seems isolated from the problems of the world right now, so we try to send out some of this beauty for the rest of the world. People of all kinds do get along here in Hawai'i, the most ethnically diverse of all of the states in the US. As Hawaiian "treasure" Nona Beamer says, "Aloha sounds corny, but it's real."

Iokepa Nae'ole, of Nature Conservancy here on Maui, suggests we put a live microphone in the cloud forest on Haleakala to bring the sounds of rare native Hawaiian birds to the website. We'd like to do that. One species of birds there only has a population of three.

April 17, 2002 - The tradewinds really kicked up this afternoon...white caps and boaters scrambling for shore. Rachel noticed the signal from the hydrophone deteriorating, and we found it halfway down Kama'ole beach......and still heading south. Conditions weren't good for a rescue attempt, but the young men of Wailea Canoe club, hearty seagoers, braved the swells and retrieved the buoy for us.....the buoy is in good shape and will be back in the water tomorrow. We saw several breaching as the sun was going down.

We want to thank Mango Mannie at Cove Park for use of his surfboards this season to service the buoy. Mango also helped us establish the buoy site.....first time out for Dan on an outrigger canoe, Mango skillfully dropped in on a beautiful swell and we had a "chicken skin" (goose bump) experience whispering into shore at high speed. Thanks for all of your help and aloha, Mango.

April 15, 2002 - There are still some whales here and they are singing this afternoon. They were distant this morning, but now they sound closer to the hydrophone. They have been making a lot of droning, purring, cooing types of sounds. We changed the buoy location and think there may be less shrimp "popping" noises in the new location. Michael, from New Mexico, joked recently that he likes the shrimp sounds and would like to go on a "shrimp watch" boat sometime.

April 14, 2002 - We had fun changing the battery today.....Kent on Pueo, his kayak, Dan on a surfboard, Rachel (just in from Sebastopol, California) snorkeling alongside out to the buoy. The sea was calm and we saw whales in the distance. Rachel looked for the family of squid that has been observed at the buoy site. They weren't visiting at that time, but we think we found the snorkeling spot listener "Peter" wrote to us about (See March 22 log entry).

After the work was pau (finished) we all jumped in the water, and we were surprised at the quality and good health of some of the coral near the buoy site. Some of the keiki (children) and parents of the award winning Kano'eau Dance Acadamy were visiting the beach closest to the buoy. They are really lovely people. We enjoyed their hula and aloha.....it gave us a taste of that beautiful and traditional cultural side of Hawai'i that many visitors pass through without getting to experience. A lucky day! This aloha thing ....seems like what the world needs more of these days. It seems to transcend race, gender, age, religion. People get along here.

April 11, 2002 - We just observed a mother and calf plus escort in shallow water near our hydrophone/buoy at approximately 1:00 pm Hawai'i time. Daytime vocalizations recently have been peaceful and distant, with more dramatic vocalizations and songs at night. Silke and Markus, new best friends and whalesong project volunteers from Germany called, and they are translating the website into German!

April 10, 2002 - Linda from Kansas writes:

"Oh my! I'm hearing a woo woo woo and other great stuff! I'm wondering if these are from dolphins or whales. Could you let me know or just post it on your site. It's 4/10/02 at 7:00 pm in Lawrence, Kansas. I just love this, it is so soothing and beautiful. Thank you!"

We are hearing mostly whales today, Linda. They are off in the distance, but try again tonight and there may be more activity. Last night they really produced some amazing and unusual sounds.

April 9, 2002 - Beautiful and amazing vocalizations tonight after a rather quiet day. It's not hard to imagine the Star Trek Enterprise crew leaning over the console, puzzled by what they are hearing. Spock says, "Fascinating, Captain." Captain Kirk has an astonished expression on his face. Then Dr. McCoy comes in with "But what are they saying, Jim?" Finally engineer Scotty informs the crew in his Scottish lilt, and with a flabbergasted expression, that the translators are not working.

Deborah, a close friend and regular listener from Tennessee, writes that she saw a program on TV Sunday about the role of songs in human's and animal's lives. She says a science professor from Cornell University, an expert on the songs of Humpback whales, explained that the male whale develops his song over time. The first year he may have only one verse "written". He will then build on the song each year or so until eventually there may be 13 verses. According to this scientist, Deborah writes, "the song of each particular whale stays the same, only gets longer. The smarter animals have longer songs that they remember and repeat. The females are attracted to the smarter males with the longer, more complicated songs, thus preserving the survival of the species." Fascinating.

Regarding this theory, George Kahumoku, our friend and cultural resource says..... "just like the Hawaiians or Hawaiians at heart! As you get more experience, you learn more songs, the longer your repertoir, the more experienced you are!"

Hmmmmmmmm. That's some food for thought. We always appreciate your mana'o, George. If you like Hawaiian music check out George's schedule at www.kahumoku.com. He's touring and giving workshops these days.

There are a lot of theories, myths, legends, science relating to these songs, and we have on a few occasions been criticized for repeating theories, or speculating on what we are hearing. As the season winds down we will be bringing some scientific interpretation into what we have heard this season from local experts. We have recorded hundreds of hours of fascinating vocalizations that we plan to sort through and post to the website....a "best of the season" kind of synopsis that will also allow us to compare to next years songs. This is a spare time volunteer project, so it won't happen overnight....but stay tuned.

As we sit here at 10:36 pm Hawai'i time, listening to deep percussive beats, the breathing of whales close to the hydrophone, and songs that go on so long that we don't know how many verses there are....we are reminded that we are witnessing a rhythmic pattern of life that includes songs, procreation, birth, communication, migration and evolution. It started a long time ago with this ancient species, and hopefully it will continue for a long time to come. Enjoy the songs....the whales will be heading north soon.

April 2, 2002 - We just received word that the Sonoma County California Press Democrat Newspaper featured a column by Susan Swartz on Whalesong. We'd like to send out Aloha from Maui to all of our friends in Northern California.

We know our friends the Kohola, the Hawaiian Humpback Whales, will be heading north soon, but the seas here are still filled with their voices. One singer "stepped up to the microphone" about 5:00 this morning and really sang a lovely song.

March 19, 2002 - We are getting thousands of visitors to our website after front page coverage on the Honolulu Star Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser recently. We are working on improvements to the audio quality of our system. We would like to thank everyone who has written notes of appreciation, comments, suggestions, and questions. We are working diligently to respond and to incorporate your ideas into the project. The seas have been choppy and noisy in the afternoons due to high winds here. This morning we are hearing some very low "baritone" vocalizations, and some vocalizations we have come to recognize as mother/calf communications.

March 18, 2002 - Anyone listening right now at 6:57 am Hawai'i time can hear what we, and naturalists we have met, are characterizing as mother/calf communications. We hear a call in a high frequency range, and then an answer at a lower octave. Or maybe the lower range voice is the call. We don't know, but people who are on the water a lot notice that it is associated with communications between the mother and calf, which normally stay in close proximity to each other. They are often in actual physical contact....sometimes the baby rides along on mom's back. Usually there is an escort, often a male. There's a lot of chatter going on this morning.

March 17, 2002 - Incredible vocalizations are happening right now at 1:00 am. We have had a couple of very busy days with a huge response to the Honolulu Advertiser article. The sheer volume of web hits, email, and listeners has been a good test of the system. The automated parts are running well. But we are behind keeping up with the mail, and we've had some maintenance issues that have been unusual. More on that later. The system is up. Thanks to all who have written and helped. If you are not listening late at night you are missing some spectacular songs.

6:25 pm - We sighted a baby whale about fifty yards from the hydrophone within the last hour. No sign of the mother. Early this morning we were hearing calf sounds without the usual mother's answer. There was a lot of surface noise this afternoon due to high winds and rain here. It's calming down now and it looks like the listening conditions should be good for the evening. Kent and Dan are working on the new hydrophone for the sanctuary education center today. Thanks to all who have written in with comments and questions, and offers to help. We will respond as soon as possible. We hope to answer a lot of the questions on our website soon.

March 16, 2002 - A visitor to Maui, staying at an ocean front condo overlooking our buoy site, reports witnessing a mother Kohola, humpback whale, giving birth close to our site.

March 14, 2002 - We have had a series of technical challenges lately, kind of like jumping through flaming hoops. The phone system in our part of the island went down, the Whalesong website server in New Jersey had unusual problems, our access to the website was down, our multicast server in California went down, email went down............

We are technically adept, but we hope things go a little smoother soon. We've managed to "surf" through this with minimal down time. We apologize for any interruptions in service. The whales are singing this afternoon....pleasant sounds today. They are close by.

The ocean off of Kihei Maui is full of whales this evening. They are spouting, slapping their tails and dorsal fins, and seem to be generally enjoying themselves in the golden glow of the sunset. Below the surface the ocean is alive with their sounds. We have been getting dramatic and beautiful vocalizations this afternoon and evening. The cooing, purring sounds we are associating with mother/calf communications are quite prominent in the audible seascape, as are distinct songs wth elements in the low baritone range.

The songs at 5:00 this morning were beautiful, soothing, clear.

March 13, 2001 - We changed the battery today with little difficulty, in calm balmy seas. This afternoon they are whooping off in the distance. The vocalizations and their amplitude (related directly to proximity) can change on a moments notice, so stay tuned. Kent and Dan kept a narration going during the battery change, and listener Nancy (Sonoma County, California) reported hearing their whale imitations. She requested a webcam so she can see the sunset here, and we hope to deliver that soon.

March 10, 2002 - We are getting a lot of diverse whale vocalizations. The types of vocalizations are changing somewhat as the season progresses, and we are hearing different sounds late at night. We are working on the second hydrophone, to be installed at the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Maui Education Center.

March 10, 2002 - Reprinted with permission, from Dr. Robin Rose M.D., Ashland, Oregon:

Sometimes we put it on overnight... and hear the soothing ocean and whales all night... I have been telling patients to do the same... for emotional calming and better sleep!!!

thanks as ever, Doc Robin

March 9, 2002 - We are getting increasingly frequent reports of whales approaching people, boaters, kayakers. This phenomenon occors frequently with the California gray whales when they calve in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California.

March 7, 2002 - Reprinted with permission, from a listener in Wisconsin:

It's almost one o'clock p.m. in Wisconsin and I have my little five year old sitting on my lap listening to the whales. It is absolutely awesome! They are just going crazy with their singing! My little guy wants to come to Hawaii to see the whales and listen to them. I'm putting it on my list of things to do in this lifetime.

Thank you so much for you website and the wonder it has created for my little boy Lucas and myself.

We are forever grateful.

Sandy Patzke and Lucas Patzke

I will share this with the rest of my family also, I have another son and daughter who will really like it!

March 2, 2002 - Just when we thought we knew what whalesongs sound like, a new soloist emerged early this morning with new and distinct vocalizations that defy imagination. Keith, a new member of the Whalesong team (he's working on an interactive web feature we will debut soon), asks from Texas if we recorded it. Yes!!! It will take a little time, but that and other recordings from this season will make it to the website....which we plan to make time to upgrade soon.

March 1, 2002 - The whales are singing spectacularly tonight (I have to come up with new adjectives besides awesome, etc.). Thanks to all who have written to us expressing appreciation of the sounds of the whales.

It was time to bring our first system in today, since the new one is working so well and the weather is good. Just before sunset I (Dan here) went out on the Canoe 'Ho'ola,' Hawai'ian for 'to heal' or 'to give life' with Ray, Jake, Mango and a spirited group of paddlers with the Wailea Canoe Club...a partner and supporter of Whalesong. This group has a lot of aloha, as they say here in Hawai'i. We had the buoy on board in no time, and then headed out for an evening run. A mile or two out we found ourselves surrounded by whales...babies, moms, dads. We got to see this through the eyes of a young boy, Danny, on board with us. Lots of oooing and aaahhing and shouts of delight from all on board the two canoes running side by side. As the sun set the horizon was active with whale tails, breaching whales, whales flipping their pectoral fins. Impossible to describe what this felt like out in the clear blue deep ocean, the breath of the whales deep and resonant. On the way in we caught two waves for long rides. What a feeling. This project is hard work and expensive, but the benefits are immeasurable. Hope you all keep listening.

February 23, 2002 - The whales are singing tonight. Our system upgrade reduced the shrimp popping sounds, but the new design introduced some surface noise that we hope to take care of in the morning. A trip out to the hydrophone at dusk by surfboard wasn't enough to do the trick, but it was a nice experience. We hope to have a quieter hydrophone fairly early tomorrow.

February 19, 2002 - The whales are singing day and night recently. We have worked out a lot of early problems with the system, and more improvements are on the horizon. The best listening times are still at night Hawaiian time

February 15, 2002 - We are happy to report that the hydrophone is up again. The system may possibly be down for part of tomorrow as we move operations across the street to the Whale Day event here on Maui. We will be providing a live audio feed to the sound stage at this large annual event. We have made great strides on some elements of the system, but we still need to reduce hydrophone cable noise and make other improvements. Feedback from those of you who have written us has been greatly appreciated. We will try to respond personally as time permits. Some of the improvements may take a little time, as we are out here in the middle of the ocean.

February 7, 2002 - We are working hard here to eliminate noise and improve the audio quality of our webcast. We have been contacted by listeners as far away as Mozambique and London who have given very positive feedback.

We'd like to give special thanks to Kent Noonan of Maui Light, Kula, Maui, for his enthusiastic and highly skilled assistance in getting the project off the ground this year. The whales are quiet this afternoon but we are watching 4 whales surfacing and spouting from the Whalesong lab. We hope to hear a repeat tonight of last night's lovely vocalizations.

February 6, 2002 - We are hearing a lot of whale vocalizations tonight. The whale songs and other whale sounds dropped dramatically the past few days, especially in the daytime. After witnessing some spectacular whales vocalizations last week, we'd had a lull in activity the past several days. We are concerned about whether this could be related to the Navy high power sonic tests off of Kauai, which resumed on Saturday. We know that cetaceans are very dependent on their hearing for communications and navigation. What these high power sounds do to them can only be guessed at this time.

February 3, 2002 - The hydrophone is back up. They are really singing tonight!

February 2, 2002 - From our Whalesong office, we are watching 3 or 4 humpback whales spouting just offshore this afternoon. This is the first time we have seen them in this close to shore in the Kihei/Wailea area of South Maui this season. We are still working out technical difficulties with the hydrophone system and don't expect to be back on the air until tomorrow afternoon. When it has been working, the sounds have exceeded our expectations. The vocalizations during and around the full moon were spectacular.

January 26, 2002 - We are very happy to have the hydrophone back in the water! Whales were singing and vocalizing in various ways when we put it in, and this has continued through the night. From the strength and clarity of the vocalizations, we believe some of these whales are in close proximity to the hydrophone. We are hoping some researchers can tell us more about what we are hearing. We wonder if some of the high frequency sounds are dolphins. Some of the vocalizations sound like birds chirping. Some are very deep but melodious low frequency sounds.

January 24, 2002 - We are working hard to get the hydrophone back in the water. Many of us here in South Kihei are concerned by the lack of whales in these waters. They usually come here to have their babies, and we are accustomed to seeing them close to shore. Tour boats are seeing them farther out in Kealaikahiki ('the way to Tahiti') Channel. Recent concerns about the effect of military sonar on marine mammals have been proven valid with the Navy's admission that its sonar killed a number of beaked whales in the Carribean. We don't know if the sonar is being used here.

January 23, 2002 - Dr. Marsha Green of the Ocean Mammal Institute spoke at Maui Community College tonight. She is a brilliant woman in our opinion, and is fighting hard to stop the deployment of LFAS sonar. Her opinion....that LFAS sonar is a bad idea...... is shared by many people in the Navy. Her website is at http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/, and has a lot of good information on this and other subjects concerning ocean mammals. Recent research by Dr. Green seems to dispel a popular notion that the famous songs of the humpback whales are sung exclusively by solo males. She has made a number of observations of singing males accompanied by a mother with calf.

January 26, 2002 - We are continuing to develop partnerships with local schools, canoe clubs, cultural organizations, research organizations, and the scientific community. There is broad support for this project on Maui. An updated list of partnerships and sponsors will be coming in the near future.

November 29, 2001 - The first humpback whale of the season was spotted in Maui waters on October 31. We have secured our Whalesong base of operations for the 2001-2002 season, and we are improving our equipment based on what we learned during the pilot project last winter. Our plans for this season include:

Establishment of four monitoring locations on Maui, in partnership with local Hawai'ian canoe clubs.

Curriculum materials for school classroom activities related to whales and the oceans, to be available to schools throughout the world.

An educational outreach program to Maui schools.

The development of educational materials about Hawai'i's original people and their relationship to the whales (Kohola), the oceans (Moana) the land (ka Aina).

Expansion of last year's exhibit and acoustic monitoring station at the educational center of the National Humpback Whale Sanctuary in Kihei Maui.

Establishment of the first acoustic monitoring station at a hotel on Maui.

Development of a nonprofit organization to support the project.

July 26, 2001 - We have established five monitoring sites for 2001-2002 whale season on Maui!!! We plan to have each site linked to this website. We are currently developing and building the technology to support this expansion to the scope and range of this project. We also are working to expand the capabilities of the hydrophone for detecting the full audio bandwidth of dolphin vocalizations (dolphins also populate these waters and rely on accoustic information for navigation and communication). Last year's project was funded out of pocket. This year we need to raise money to support the expansion. We are incorporating Whalesong as a nonprofit organization. If you are interested in volunteering or donating to this effort, please contact info@whalesong.net

April 19, 2001 - We have successfully navigated the Whalesong boat out of the ocean for repairs. Attempts to establish another monitoring station this season have been encumbered by sea and wind conditions in Ma'alaea Bay. We have decided to concentrate our efforts on disseminating what we have learned, and networking with others to expand internet-linked acoustic monitoring of the oceans around Hawai'i, and all the oceans of the world. The technology is here, and we have done it successfully in our pilot project.

April 17, 2001 - Despite the loss of the Whalesong boat for this season, we are hoping to bring the system back on line, due to popular demand. Please check back soon to hear the live sounds.

April 15, 2001 - During heavy seas and high winds, the Whalesong broke its mooring in Ma'alaea Bay. Fortunately the boat had a soft landing on the beach. It could have easily caught the famous 'Kaho'olawe Express,' the winds and current that can carry small craft to Tahiti. We want to thank a beachgoer named Scott who helped save the boat. We have been overwhelmed by the community support here for the project, and the willingness of so many to pitch in and lend a hand.

April 5, 2001 - We upgraded the the solar charging system today, and set up a receiver at the Education Center at the Marine Mammal Sanctuary in Kihei. Later in the afternoon, an Internet listener in California called to tell us about some incredible whale sounds coming through. We stopped back at the Sanctuary and pulled out the portable receiver. Soon there was a group of visitors, volunteers and employees enjoying a spectacular vocalizations of a whale that had to be very close to the hydrophone. After a while we saw a large whale breach about 200 yards off the bow of the Whalesong boat, and the vocalizations ended with a big splash.

March 29, 2001 - This morning we kayaked out to the Whalesong boat and fixed the audio problem. We also installed and hooked up the solar panel--we are now solar powered! We had good sound: gentle water sounds with just a few intermittent whale songs way far off. Unfortunately, we overcompensated when we adjusted the volume level and ended up with some interference, which caused us to stop the live sounds at this web site. In the evening, we noticed that the interference had abated and the whales were singing loud and clear, so we restarted the live feed. Tomorrow we hope to go out to the boat again and make further adjustments for clearer sound quality.

March 27, 2001 - We are excited to report that we had our first successful live audio feed, for the last 24 hours. The whale sounds were easy to hear and were pretty much constant. The sounds you can hear now are archived. The live sounds are temporarily off line while we adjust the equipment. We hope to restart them Weds. March 28, and we expect the sounds to be louder and clearer with less static.