**Nature Nugget**

As many of you have come to notice, there is something quite incredible going on right off of our shoreline! The eastern North Pacific gray whales are currently passing through on the great northbound migration from Baja, Mexico to their Arctic feeding grounds. These whales travel between 9,000 -13,000 miles annually, undergoing one of the greatest migratory journeys of any mammal on earth. They have been doing this for approximately 30 million years, and have survived great hardship, including their complete return from the brink of extinction in the early 1900’s due to whaling. Today gray whales are protected by international law, they were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994, and there are now approximately 26,000, similar to population numbers before modern-day whaling.
During their northbound migration the eastern North Pacific gray whales segment into two phases. The first phase includes newly pregnant females, followed by adult males and females, and then immature whales of both sexes. The second phase consists mostly of cows and calves, which migrate inland from the greater pod, traveling very close to shore, in order to be protected from predators. Gray whales can be seen passing by California in March, April, and May on their northern journey, and again in December and January during their southern migration.