previous whale sightings reports:
May 15, 2008 (photographs as promised...)
SEPTEMBER 2, 2008
total sightings from today's whale watches:
17 HUMPBACK WHALES, 2 FIN WHALES, 4 MINKE WHALES, and 80-100 ATLANTIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS!
A Humpback Whale "breaching" on August 31, 2008
It has been a VERY interesting week on Stellwagen Bank to say the least. The whales, after a brief period of scarcity, are very plentiful again and we have seen a lot of feeding and other surface activity. Highlights of the past week have included some spectacular “close-to-boat” behavior from the largest male Humpback whale in our population (a giant whale called “Colt”), lots of surface feeding, a spectacular "double breach" from "Compass" and calf, a rare sighting of a mother and calf Finback whale (the second largest animal on Earth), and many sightings of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins!
Surface feeding Humpback Whale
Atlantic White-sided Dolphins have been sighted 3 times over the past week...
Those of you that have been following my “whale sightings updates” all year have already learned about the various whale behaviors (breaching, feeding, flipper-slapping, spy-hopping, etc) that we have been seeing all summer long. Over the past few days we have seen (and I have managed to photograph!) all of these behaviors many more times. But rather than explain the theories behind these behaviors all over again I would like to do something different with this sightings update: I would like to talk about the area that these whales found, Stellwagen Bank, itself. Stellwagen bank is a rare and unique marine ecosystem that is ultimately the reason we have so many whales feeding just a few miles off of the Massachusetts coast each summer. I think that by knowing a bit more about the Bank it will create a more complete picture of the whales I have been reporting on all year long. ***For those of you that may have just found this page please feel free to read through my previous whales sightings updates (they are listed on the left) but then come back to this page and read about Stellwagen Bank! After learning about this unique place I am sure you will want to see it for yourself…***
A Humpback Whale "lob-tailing" on August 27, 2008
Stellwagen bank can be thought of as a huge underwater sand bar that is about 17 miles long, 3 to 5 miles wide, and rises up from the sea floor to a height the equivalent of a 7-story building. The water on top of Stellwagen Bank is relatively shallow…usually only about 80-120 feet deep. The water around Stellwagen Bank, however, is much deeper…usually 250-300 feet deep (some places more than 500 feet in depth!). Thus Stellwagen Bank represents a sudden and dramatic change in the depth of the ocean and this is important. You see most nutrients and minerals in the ocean (from anything that dies or passes waste) tend to drift down and settle on the ocean floor where they remain trapped in the deep, dark layers of the ocean depths where they are completely inaccessible to fish, birds, whales an d other wildlife. It is only in areas where there is a mechanism that can bring those nutrients and minerals back to the surface that you will find a healthy feeding ground for animals such as the great whales. Stellwagen Bank creates just such a mechanism….
"Colt" gets and up close look at passengers aboard the Privateer IV on August 30, 2oo8
As currents and tides flow through the Gulf of Maine they rush along the ocean floor and sweep up some of these organic nutrients and inorganic minerals that have settled on the ocean floor and carry these nutrients along with them. Then when these nutrient laden currents rushing along the ocean floor collide with the steep sides of Stellwagen Bank they get pushed upwards towards the surface. This is a process called “upwelling”. When this “upwelling” occurs the nutrients and minerals get dragged up to the surface where they mix with sunlight and oxygen. This potent mixture of nutrients, sunlight, and oxygen comprise just the right ingredients to create tremendous blooms of tiny, microscopic life called “Plankton”. These blooms of Plankton are the next step in bringing in the huge numbers of whales were have been so privileged to observe the past few months. Plankton forms the base of the food pyramid that feeds all life in the oceans. Thus it is in areas such as Stellwagen Bank where plankton is so abundant that you would expect to find a large diversity of marine life.
I hope this information helps to illustrate just how special a place like Stellwagen bank is…. Enjoy the pictures and I hope to see you on the water soon!
MORE PICTURES FROM THE PAST WEEK:
Dolphins
Fin whale calf
Feeding Humpback whale
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