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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: SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 Total Sightings for the Day:18 HUMPBACK WHALES, and 1 FINBACK WHALE (A total of 3 were in the area) Breaching Humpback Whale Calf. ALL of the photos on this page were taken in September 2009 from the 7 Seas Whale Watch Boat "PRIVATEER IV" After 4 days of strong winds and heavy rain we were FINALLY able to go out whale watching again today! The morning trip was hampered by thick fog; however we were still able to find 5 HUMPBACK WHALES. This was encouraging because after so much wind there we really weren’t sure what, if anything, we would find on the Northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. By the afternoon the fog had cleared and that gave us a better opportunity to look around the Stellwagen Bank area. The amount of whales was impressive to say the least. We saw 18 different Humpback whales on the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank… just 14 miles from Gloucester. We actually started the afternoon even closer to Gloucester, just 10 miles from shore, where we came across 2 different pairs of Humpback whales (and there was also a mother and calf FINBACK WHALE in that area). We spent a few minutes watching these whales but they were spending a lot of time beneath the surface, plus there were a lot of other boats in the area, so we decided to head further south in search of more cooperative whales and fewer boats…. and that’s exactly what we found. We first stopped on a group of 4 Humpback Whales: Firefly, Ravine, Percussion, and Milkweed. These whales were all “deep feeding” (feeding beneath the surface) together. This impressive group would surface very close by giving us unparalleled good looks. After watching our first group of 4 Humpbacks for a while we moved off to visit with another group of 4 Humpbacks: Apex and calf, Pele, and Conflux. This group of whales was engaged in some “deep feeding” just as the first group was. Shortly after stopping on these whales, however, Apex’s calf surprised us by doing a full breach (leaped out of the water) right alongside our boat. The little calf breached 3 times in total, and often rolled on its side and pounded the surface of the water with its flipper in a behavior called “Pec-slapping” or “Flipper-slapping”. Young whales, just like the young of any mammal be it puppies, kittens, or even humans have a keen sense of play (which is actually quite important for exercising growing bones and muscles as well as building body awareness and coordination) and it is not uncommon to see such playful behaviors from calves while the adults are beneath the surface of the water feeding. This is one of the reason we love watching mother and calf pairs. As we watched this group of whales our first group of 4 joined with them, making a group of 8 Humpback whales all in one area. It was great to see so many whales and so much activity. After watching these whales for a long while we decided to start heading back north towards Gloucester… but our whale watch wasn’t done yet. On our way in we spotted an adult Humpback whale, a well known female called “Trident” who was tail-lobbing (slapping the tail at the surface). We couldn’t pass by this activity without stopping, of course, and Trident continues to tail-lob and flipper-slap long enough for us to get some great looks. We can’t guarantee this kind of activity on every trip, indeed this afternoon’s trip was one of our best whale watches so far this September. But it was encouraging to see so many whales out there and hopefully we will have a great autumn on the water. Individual Humpback whales seen today included: Tear Thread Salt Cardhu Geometry Pinpoint Ravine Milkweed Firefly Percussion Pele Apex and calf Conflux Trident Rune Coral
A number of "Mola mola" or "Ocean Sunfish" have been seen recently as well. These odd looking fish feed on Jellyfish. There have been a lot of "Comb Jellies" (a close relative of the Jellyfish) on Stellwagen Bank recently and these Comb Jellies are no doubt responsible for bringing the Ocean Sunfish into the area as well. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 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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Humpback Whale calf
A Humpback Whale diving
"Trident" Flipper-slapping
A Humpback called "Thread" tail-lobbing
A Humpback called "Rune" diving
"Coral" and "Rune"
