Non-song vocalizations of pygmy blue whales in Geographe Bay, Western Australia.

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Main Authors: Recalde-Salas, A., Salgado Kent, Chandra, Parsons, Miles, Marley, S., McCauley, Robert
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Acoustical Society of America 2014
• Subjects: non song vocalization; Western Australia; pygmy blue whales; Migrating; Geographe Bay; whales; Balaenoptera musculus
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41197; https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4871581

Non-song vocalizations of migrating pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) in Western Australia are described. Simultaneous land-based visual observations and underwater acoustic recordings detected 27 groups in Geographe Bay, WA over 2011 to 2012. Six different vocalizations were recorded that were not repeated in a pattern or in association with song, and thus were identified as non-song vocalizations. Five of these were not previously described for this population. Their acoustic characteristics and context are presented. Given that 56% of groups vocalized, 86% of which produced non-song vocalizations and 14% song units, the inclusion of non-song vocalizations in passive-acoustic monitoring is proposed.