Happy Valentine’s Day! While we celebrate heart day only once a year, gray whales celebrate heart day every day. Well, maybe not intentionally, but every time they surface and exhale a heart-shaped mist appears. This heart-shaped blow is a special attribute of gray whales and a key way of identifying them out on the water from a distance. Of course it’s not a perfect heart shape every time, especially on windy days, but their generally puffy blow serves as a calling card all the same.
While I’ve see the characteristic heart-shaped blow many times, I’ve never managed to take a really good photo of one. Last weekend on a whale watching trip, I came close. In the above photo you’ll see a blow that resembles a heart, but not exactly. Thankfully, you can find pretty much anything on the internet these days and a quick search turned up this great photo of a heart-shaped blow on the Aquarium of the Pacific’s website. So take a look!
And if there’s a moral to this story it’s this…celebrate the people, animals and causes you love every day – gray whale style.
Michael Daniel Ho says
Great photo, Carolyn. Love is in the air, literally (use your imagination).
Bryan says
Wow, as if whales weren’t magical enough, they make hearts with their blows. Great stuff as always!