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2009 whale sightings reports: ________________________ 2008 WHALE SIGHTINGS REPORTS: View photographs and view sightings reports from the memorable 2008 whale watching season 2009 PELAGIC BIRD REPORTS : A new section of this site reserved just for ocean birds and birders |
2009 WHALE SIGHTINGS REPORT: July 28, 2009 Total Sightings for the Day (2 Trips):15-20 HUMPBACK WHALES, 4 FINBACK WHALES and 5 MINKE WHALES
Breaching Humpback Whale on Stellwagen Bank. July 2009 Whale watching has gotten even better over the past week! The whales have moved slightly further north on Stellwagen Bank and the amount of feeding behavior we are seeing has increased a bit too. That’s not to say we see feeding on every trip, but with the amount of “feed” (small schooling fish that the whales feed upon) on Stellwagen Bank right now your chances are better than at any other point this year. I just returned from our morning whale watch where we started by traveling south along the western edge of Stellwagen Bank until we came across a mother and calf pair Humpback Whale that was traveling with a third whale, termed an “escort.” The mother was a whale called “Rapier” and she and her calf gave us some great looks as they swam back and forth beneath our boat and even played with some seaweed at the ocean’s surface. The calf also rolled on its side and lifted its long, white flipper in the air in a behavior called “flipper slapping.” While we were watching these whales we kept an eye out for other whales in the area, but because it was a hazy day (we could only see about ¾ mile) we didn’t spot any. So, we decided to take a risk and head further south hoping that we would find some other whales. It didn’t take long!
Almost as soon as we left Rapier and calf we saw splashing in front of us, then splashing of the port side, then splashing off the starboard side! We ended up finding a feeding frenzy of AT LEAST 15-20 Humpback whales… there could well have been significantly more. In fact, we identified 17 individual whales that day and I doubt we identified ½ of the whales we saw! Besides the sheer number of whales the activity was fantastic as well. Groups of 3 and 4 whales feeding together, birds swarming over the whales to scavenge the fish that the whales leave behind, and of course massive schools of fish churning up the water in an attempt the escape the whale/bird feeding frenzy. After watching these whales feed for 30 minutes or so the whales suddenly stopped, all at once, and began traveling lazily in groups ranging from 1-5 whales. It was curious see such coordination amongst these whales. Exactly why they choose to begin or stop feeding so suddenly is a mystery, but then again much about these whale’s lives is still a mystery. We were just fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to see it. Whale watching, like all nature watching, often requires patience. But more often than not patience is rewarded with great sightings. These days there are a lot of whales on Stellwagen Bank and if you are patient you will usually see something spectacular. Today was a great example of that.
Let’s hope these sightings continue!
In Birding news Cory's Shearwaters have been regularly sighted in fairly large numbers (25+) per trip. These normally southern birds are seldom sighted north of Cape Cod but, for the second year in a row, have been a regular on Stellwagen Bank _____________________________________________________________________________________________ All photos on this page were taken aboard the 7 Seas Whale Watch boat "Privateer IV" Some of the BEST photographs on this site were taken aboard our whale watching trips 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
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Feeding Humpback Whales
Lunge Feeding Humpback Whales
Humpback Whale Tail
"Flick Feeding" Humpback Whale