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The whale counter of Horta
A cetacean researcher, a cliff-top lookout and the volunteers who keep watch with her. People of the Ocean, from the Azores.
Gente do OceanoHorta, Azores
The lookout is a small concrete hut built for whalers. Today the binoculars inside it belong to the Azores Deep Ocean Lab, and the person most often behind them is the researcher who has run the sightings log for nine years.
Volunteers do most of the watching. They learn to tell a sperm whale's angled blow from a fin whale's tall one, and to log time, bearing and behaviour before the animal dives.
A long record
The value of the log is its length. Short studies catch a season; years of the same watch from the same cliff show how migration timing shifts.
You don't need a degree to count. You need patience and a good pair of eyes.
Participe
Volunteer watches run from April to October. Training is given on the first day.