Now that's what I call getting around

I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip
I gotta finda new place where the kids are hip
My buddies and me are getting real well known
Yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone
I get around
-- B. Wilson, "I get around"

This is just a pair of data points on the itinerant habits of one individual, but it's the kind of thing that makes marine biology fascinating. A certain northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) known to human observers as 3270 (pictured), usually hangs out with the other 300 or so remnants of his species on the east coast of North America. But on January 5, 2009, at approximately 16:40 local time, it was spotted in the Azores. Wow.

The last time a northern right whale was seen in the Azores was 1888, according to a posting to the Marman listserv by Monica Silva of the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries at University of the Azores. And the previous siting of 3270 was five months ago in the Bay of Fundy.

Cool.