The Lives of Hawai'i's Dolphins and Whales: Natural History and Conservation

I've been following the Hawaiian field studies done annually by Robin's research group so was thrilled to hear of this book. I just received my copy yesterday and immediately read the entire section on Beaked Whales before browsing the rest. Yep, I'm an avid Ziphiid whale fanatic. I was impressed with the available detail although there was some repetitive information that you'd probably not notice if you hadn't read an entire section in one go. That's OK. Of particular interest was the data regarding acoustic ID of beaked whale vocalizations suggesting 2 additional species of Mesoplodon inhabiting Hawaiian waters that have not yet been positively identified at sea in this area. For one of these enigmatic species, they have NEVER been positively identified at sea ANYWHERE (stranding records only). Fascinating stuff!

This book is full of beautiful pictures of cetaceans taken around the Hawaiian, and in addition has lots of interesting content drawn from the scientific literature (the author has discovered much of the interesting content in the book too!).

Wonderful overview of dolphins and whales in Hawaii. Living here, I see spinners and humpback whales. I had no idea there were so many others! The book provides easy to read overviews of each species with many wonderful pictures. It's never too technical. I highly recommend this book!

Robin Baird has compiled a great collection of photos and knowledge!

Long Awaited and well worth every penny ! A must read for any marine mammal lovers .