Dolphin Birthing Season is Here! Part Two

Dolphin Explorer, LLC is the proprietor of the 10,000 Islands Dolphin Study Project. Begun in 2006, the current survey team studies the abundance, social behavior, well-being, travel range and genealogy of the local bottlenose dolphin population around Marco Island and surrounding areas. The study continues…

In last week’s part one of our two-part series, many of you met some of our prospective adult females that may give birth in the north Marco Island waters over the next few months. This is an exciting year for our survey team as we are in prime birthing season as we speak, and this could be a record-breaking fall because we have 23 females that may produce a new calf.

Will the team see this many newborn babies? It is highly unlikely that all of these females will give birth, but we are expecting to record quite a few! The most new calves recorded in any given fall season was 10 and that number could easily fall.

As a quick recap, those “possible” new moms are Aubrey, Anji, Chip, Coco, Cosmo, Darwina, G3, Jing Jing, Kaya, Kaycee, Lucky Charm, Mia, Moab, Nadine, Orange, Payton, Skipper, Sparkle, Sparky, Sydney, Tess, Victoria, and Zipper.

Last week we introduced you to Aubrey through Kaya on our list. We won’t meet the rest individually but will highlight a few of the more significant ones.

Nadine, a daughter of Tess, has already produced her first calf, Pigeon, that has been by Nadine’s side for three years. It is typical for a calf to leave its mother’s care after three to four years, so Nadine may be pregnant, making Tess a grandmother for the second time.

Payton, mother of Magic and Marvel, has had her three-year-old Marvel leave her side on occasion, suggesting that Payton is also pregnant. This would be her third known calf and she is seen often in the Marco River near the intersection of Collier Creek.

Skipper is one of our personal favorite dolphins in the area! She survived a shark attack at about eight months old and has the scar to prove it. She was rescued from a fishing line entanglement at one year old. She is the daughter of one of our most productive females in the water. Skipper’s sister, Kaya, became pregnant at seven and gave birth at eight years old. Skipper was courted by two of our dominant males at seven and may be giving birth to her first calf this year. There is a possibility that Skipper, and her sister Kaya could both become mothers this fall! It’s fascinating to watch these young grow and mature!

Sparky is the mother of four known offspring, the most recent being Porkchop, four years ago. Sparky did not have a new calf last year, so Porkchop took advantage of an extra year learning its skills by mom’s side. Sparky looks very large lately and is a candidate to have a new calf soon. In addition, Sparky is a grandmother of her daughter Orange’s calf Swoop!

Sydney appears to be quite large at this time. She is the mother of Jing Jing and grandmother of Jordan. There is a possibility that Sydney and daughter Jing Jing could both give birth this year!

Victoria is the mother of four offspring. She gave birth in 2019 to Gypsy, who did not survive. She has consistently produced new offspring and is high on the list this year.

Zipper turns ten years old this fall but has not produced offspring yet. She, too, was courted by several dominant males’ last fall. The pregnancy period being one year, we will watch Zipper closely in the coming months.

We’ve mentioned that this is the time of year when most new calves are born around the north end of Marco Island. However, we have seen a few births later in the year, and for good reason. Since 2018 we have had several females produce a new calf that did not survive. There are predators in the water that young dolphins have to watch for, and not all babies survive. Moms whose calves we positively seen, and recorded, in recent years are Sintas, Halfway and Rangle. These three all became pregnant shortly after their loss, giving birth later in the fall. 

Although a new calf was not physically seen, a few more females may have given birth in recent years, judging from their size and behavior. They would be Avery in 2019 and Jing Jing in 2020. Both had their three-year old’s leave their sides as is typical when a female is pregnant but, as mentioned, no newborn was ever seen. Avery gave birth later in 2020 and Jing Jing appears quite large at this time and could have a baby later in the fall.

And there we have it!!! Never in the history of our documentation have there been so many females that are potential new moms. How many new youngsters will be found this year???? Stay tuned!!!!  Please keep in touch via our website,

Dolphin-study.com and also on our Facebook page. Updates are coming…soon!!

BIO: Bob is a Master Naturalist working with the dolphin survey team on board The Dolphin Explorer. He is a two-time national award-winning columnist for Coastal Breeze News and a regular speaker at area venues. He has published two books about wildlife and is an owner of Wild Florida Ecotours, conducting nature studies from Port of the Islands. Bob loves his wife very much!!!