T HE annual migration of Pacific grey whales begins in the fall, when they leave their feeding-bed in the Bering Sea as the ice floes thicken. Navigating the strait between Siberia and Alaska in the cold blue furrows among the Aleutian islands, small groups of pregnant females lead the way—their progress toward warmer water for birthing is the most urgent. Each of these pilot groups is followed by a dozen males and females, feeding and courting, while their young trail behind them, straying but hurrying to keep up. Similar to the adults, the youngest whales descend to depths of one hundred to three hundred feet as they swim southward to the subtropical coast of Mexico. Many of the expectant mothers will deliver their calves in the warm lagoons on the western brim of Baja California. Birthing and breeding occur in these waters from late winter into the first weeks of spring. For several hundred thousand years Pacific grey whales have made this migration, navigating by the distinct shape and feel of the ocean floor beneath their route; by the arc of the sun; by the coastal currents that envelop them; and by rarely halting to feed but extracting plankton from tons of seawater as they move along. And each year they communicate this learning to their offspring.

中文翻译：

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科尔特斯海的阳光

太平洋灰鲸的年度迁徙始于秋季，随着浮冰变厚，它们离开白令海的觅食床。在阿留申群岛之间寒冷的蓝色沟壑中穿越西伯利亚和阿拉斯加之间的海峡，一小群怀孕的雌性带路——她们向更温暖的水中分娩的进展是最紧迫的。每一个领航组后面跟着十多只雄性和雌性，在觅食和求爱，而它们的幼崽尾随在身后，迷途却又急于跟上。与成年鲸类似，最年轻的鲸鱼在向南游到墨西哥亚热带海岸时会下降到 100 到 300 英尺的深度。许多准妈妈将在下加利福尼亚州西部边缘温暖的泻湖中分娩小牛。从冬末到春季的前几周，在这些水域中进行生育和繁殖。数十万年来，太平洋灰鲸一直在进行这种迁徙，它们在其路线下方海底的独特形状和感觉下航行。通过太阳的弧度；被包围它们的海岸水流所包围；并且很少停下来喂食，而是在海水移动时从成吨的海水中提取浮游生物。每年他们都会将这些知识传达给他们的后代。