previous whale sightings reports:
May 15, 2008 (photographs as promised...)
AUGUST 25, 2008
total sightings from today's whale watches:
16 HUMPBACK WHALES, 1 FIN WHALE, 6 MINKE WHALES, and 125 ATLANTIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS on August 21st!
Over the past week we have seen the number of whales vary greatly from trip to trip. On some whale watches we spotted as many as 20 HUMPBACK WHALES, and on other trips as few as 8. Regardless of how many whales were seen, however, we have still been seeing a lot of surface activity….especially from the Humpback Whales (although we did have a GREAT encounter with a Minke whale on August 24th….keep reading for more details).
While the most frequently seen behavior continues to be feeding (Stellwagen Bank is after all a feeding ground for these whales!) if I had to pick a theme for this last week it would be “close-to-boat” behavior. On a number of occasions we have had a Humpback whale (or two) take a break from their feeding activity to come over to the boat and take a look at the people who have ventured out to sea to look at the whales! Most experienced whale watchers will tell you that this is one of the most special behaviors you can see from the whales fro a coupe of reasons: First, it is one thing to watch wild and endangered whales in their natural environment but it something extra special when one of those whales decides to watch you! Second, you will never get such a great look at a whale, or such a true impression of their massive size as when the whale is literally just a few feet away from you!
When these whales are engaged in this “Close-to-boat-behavior” (also called “playing-with-the-boat”) the whales will sometimes turn vertically in the water and lift their heads up above the surface in a behavior called “spy-hopping”. By spy-hopping the whale get its eyes closer to the surface where there is more light and are thus the whale is able to get a better look at the boat and the people onboard.
Whales have excellent eyesight. In fact, they can focus their eyes both above and below the water. The lens in their eye is flexible over such a great range that they can focus rays of light in a liquid environment (such as water) and in a gaseous environment (like air). The lens in our eyes is not nearly as flexible as the whale’s is which is why we cannot see clearly underwater (unless we were goggles). But despite the fact that the whale’s eyes are so superbly adapted to seeing sharp, clear images in both air and water they can’t see very far through the water column on Stellwagen Bank because the water here is so dark and murky thanks to the abundance of plankton in the water. Some researchers have even referred to the waters of the Gulf of Maine/Stellwagen Bank area as a “plankton soup” because of the abundance of plankton here (it is the plankton, however, that starts the food-chain that brings the whales here each summer!). It is therefore necessary for the whales to spy-hop or lift their heads out of the water (where there is more light) to be able to see the boat well. It is a very special way to encounter a wild, endangered whale indeed.
While Humpback Whales are fairly well known for this curiosity in boats and people, most other whale species are not. This is why we were so surprised to have a MINKE WHALE “play-with-the-boat” last Sunday afternoon! What actually happened was that we stopped in a place where we had seen a pair of adult Humpback whales go down on a dive and we decided to stop and wait for them to resurface. After waiting 3 or 4 minutes a very small whale surfaced just a few feet from our boat. At first we thought it was a Humpback whale calf but this seemed strange as we were certain that the two Humpback whales we had seen dive in the area were adults and no calf was seen traveling with them as we approached. A second look at this whale, however, clearly revealed that it was in fact a Minke whale!!! Minkes are a species that is normally rather indifferent towards boats and actually difficult to get a good look at due to their smaller size and fast speed.
This little Minke whale (and by “little” I mean “only” about 20 feet in length which is small by whale standards!) circled our boat many times and even “spy-hopped”….just like the 45 foot Humpback whales earlier in the day… which allowed us unparalleled good looks at this normally elusive species.
This encounter with the Minke whale was a great example of how with whale watching (as with all nature watching) you can always expect to see things that are unexpected. Every time you go out into the field to observe wild animals you will always see something special if you have patience and you look hard enough. We have been so blessed to have so many whales in our area all year long and have had many, many wonderful days on the water. Still, no matter how much we have seen this year we still see new and unexpected things….whether it be a breaching Humpback whale, a huge pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins just a few miles off of Gloucester or a curious little Minke whale circling the boat. This is part of what makes whale watching so fun….the unexpected nature of the trip.
Here's some more pictures that I managed to take over the past few days......
Feeding Humpback Whale.....
Another feeding Humpback.....
A Humpback whale's tail....
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin.....
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin mother and calf.....
Humpback whale diving.....
CLICK HERE FOR MORE RECENT PICTURES (August 9th-18th, 2008)
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN FROM THE 7 SEAS WHALE WATCHING BOAT PRIVATEER IV
Some of the above photos were taken by our good friend Oktay Kaya. To see more of Oktay's beautiful whale photographs and other wildlife pictures he has taken please visit his site at http://www.whalesandwhales.com