DATE: Friday, August 1, 1997                TAG: 9708010719

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   55 lines

BROAD BAY DOLPHIN GIVES BIRTH - BOTH DOING FINE

The Broad Bay dolphin is a mom.

The errant female bottlenose dolphin, which spent the winter in the Broad Bay rather than migrate to warmer waters, gave birth about a month ago, Virginia Marine Science Museum officials announced Thursday.

Mother and child seem to be doing quite well, the officials said.

Museum scientists kept an eye on the Broad Bay Dolphin, her official name, throughout the relatively mild winter to make sure she was getting enough food and not suffering from the cold.

She appeared to be in good health and, unlike a previous winter when a dolphin was transported to Florida, was allowed to stay the winter. This spring she seemed to have done well, feeding on the abundant food available in the Broad Bay.

Broad Bay adjoins Seashore/First Landing State Park and empties into Lynnhaven Bay and ultimately the ocean.

The gestation period for bottlenose dolphins is about 12 months, so the dolphin was well into her pregnancy by October, when most dolphins leave Virginia Beach waters and head south.

That wasn't her reason for staying. Mark Swingle, the museum curator who runs the marine stranding program, said pregnant female dolphins routinely make the trip south, probably to warm Gulf Stream waters off Cape Hatteras.

He hopes the pair does not stay another winter because dolphins nurse as long as 18 months. Having a calf to care for while searching for food will make surviving the winter even tougher.

``She's clearly not going to be as maneuverable with the calf with her,'' Swingle said.

``We've never seen a calf stay through the winter,'' he added.

The calf's presence gives boaters more reason to give the dolphins plenty of space, to maintain slow, constant speeds in their presence, and to not change direction abruptly.

Not only is Virginia Beach apparently hospitable to wintering dolphins, it may be supporting one of the largest numbers of visiting dolphins in several years.

Swingle said that early results of last Saturday's dolphin count indicate a record crop since the count began five years ago. There were more than 1,000 sightings during the morning hours, when volunteers watched from vantage points along the Virginia coast.

That total will drop substantially after duplicates are accounted for, but the number is likely to be higher than the average of about 400 dolphins of previous years, Swingle said.

The greatest number have traditionally been off Cape Henry because of the abundant supply of food fish. This year was no exception.

Swingle, who spent the morning on a boat near that spot, reported being surrounded by more than 200 dolphins, including about 20 babies, at one point.

``It's the largest group of dolphins I've ever seen here,'' he said. ``It was pretty spectacular.''

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu