Two gray whales, one heart-shaped blow on the right (kind of)

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.