Has Our Favorite Dolphin Returned?

September 28, 2022, and Hurricane Ian has just made landfall in Fort Myers, Florida, with devastating results. The beach community there, to this day, has not recovered and it may be a long time before that area returns to normal, if ever.

Further south along the coast, Marco Island experienced a storm surge of 8 to 9 feet, displacing many homeowners and causing millions of dollars in damage to residential and commercial buildings. Homes were destroyed, some completely torn to the ground in the aftermath, while others are still rebuilding.

In the water, concern for our resident dolphin population was paramount to the dolphin study team on Marco. There was a moratorium on boating after the storm, so the team had to wait a while before returning to assess the well-being of our cetacean friends.

Eventually, a count began, and over a month’s period, all of our dolphins were seen except for three. Sydney, an adult female and grandmother, has not been seen at all since the hurricane 20 months ago. Also, a mom and her 21-month-old calf were not seen when a count was taken.

The mom’s name is Halfway, and she is somewhat of a legend to our team. She is the mom of 7 offspring and the grandmother of 4. Her 21-month-old, named Cubbie, should technically stay by Halfway’s side for about three years before going out on its own. Here’s when the story gets interesting…

In February of 2023, Cubbie was seen back in the area, but Halfway was nowhere to be found. The youngster was just over two years old when he returned to our area, a bit too soon to be away from mom. Fortunately for Cubbie, with so many brothers, sisters, and other relatives, this two-year-old had a great social connection within his home range. Also, at the age of two, a young dolphin has stopped nursing from mom’s milk and strictly fishing for the rest of his life. So strong social connections and the ability to forage on his own gave Cubbie the ability to survive.

But where is Halfway? For the 20 months since the hurricane the team took many, many photos to identify the area dolphins, but no Halfway was seen…

Until recently.

On May 12th, the team identified adult female Skipper and her 32-month-old calf Fergie along the seawall on the northwest corner of the Isle of Capri. A third dolphin was photographed but not immediately identified. Skipper is the daughter of Halfway and was taught to feed along these seawalls. Now Skipper was teaching Fergie to feed in the same location. Fergie is Halfway’s grandson.

Just a few days before writing this article, the team went back to review some unidentified photos. The May 12th photo with Skipper and Fergie showed a dolphin with a medium nick in the center of the dorsal fin and a smaller nick just above that. A smaller indentation on the front of the fin was seen as well as a flatness at the base of the fin, also on the front. The more the photo was examined, the more it appeared to be that of Halfway, with a few new markings on the top back of the fin.

The area where this dolphin was seen on May 12th is right where Halfway taught all her offspring to feed since 2004. It would make sense that she would return to this specific spot if coming back to the region in general!

Now, to be honest, the photo of this dolphin’s dorsal fin was in the shadows and just a bit fuzzy. However, the similarity of the markings on the fin from the Halfway that we knew for 18 years, and the shape of the markings on the May 12th fin are very, very similar. It will take a few more photos, with better clarity, to be 100% positive. We will be patient and see what the near future brings.

Also, this area of Isles of Capri is where Halfway raised all 7 of her young. Birthing season in this section of Marco is primarily September, October and November. Could it be that Halfway is about eight months pregnant, returning here to have her next calf? (Pregnancy period for a dolphin is 12 months). Again, time will tell! Stay tuned as the team works for a better photo to positively know if this is our favorite female from the past coming home to have another baby!