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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: APRIL 25-26, 2009 Total Sightings for This Weekend: 10 HUMPBACK WHALES, 10 MINKE WHALES, 80+ ATLANTIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS, 20+ HARBOR PORPOISE, 1 HARBOR SEAL, NUMEROUS GANNETS, and 11 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES
A Humpback whale called "Falcon" breaching on Saturday, April 25, 2009 on Stellwagen bank SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009 Our second weekend of the 2009 whale watch season gave two very good, but VERY different trips. Saturday's trip was characterized by a strong southerly breeze which made for choppy seas. The upside to going whale watching in somewhat rough weather is that the whales were very active. Over the years we have no doubt established that surface active behaviors from all whales, but especially Humpbacks, increases as the weather worsens.
On Saturday the 25th, we actually found our first whale only because it was active! When it's very windy on the ocean the "blows" or "spouts" of the whales tend to get knocked down quickly rather than hanging in the air for a few seconds. This means that spotting blows on windy, rough days can be very hard. That was certainly the case on Saturday. Fortunately for us we were able to see some unusually large splashes occurring regularly amidst the constant churning of the waves. The splashes turned out to be a young humpback whale that was "flipper-slpapping" (lifting its long, white pectoral fin out of the water and then pounding it on the surface of the ocean.) This was a great way to start our trip.
The "ventral" or underside of the tail is pure white, while the top or "dorsal" side of the tail is solid back Soon we moved on to another active whale; a young whale with a beautiful all white fluke. Animals with all white flukes (aka "tails") like this are called "type-1" whales and are my personal favorite. This was one of the purest type-1s I've seen. This whale was "tail-breaching" (twisting at the surface so-as to throw the entire back-half of it's body out of the water.) This behavior is impressive from any whale, but as the photos show, the all-white tail made it an especially pretty sight!
Later we found a well-know male Humpback whale called "Falcon" that was also tail-breaching, however shortly after we arrived Falcon began... well... REALLY breaching! He breached many times, often in great light which was wonderful for photography. Thanks again to Oktay for sharing some of his photographs he took this trip. You're the best!
After Falcon stopped breaching we visited with a pair of whales that we had noticed amidst all the activity. This pair whales turned out to be a mother and calf pair of Humpback whales... our first of the year! The calf, only about 4 months old was very small and everyone liked seeing this "cute" little whale. By the end of summer, this whale will have more than doubled in size! This was all very exciting of course, but my excitement was tempered by the fact that the mother just would not lift her fluke so I was unable get an identification. Hopefully we will see this pair again. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009
Atlantic White-sided Dolphins on a calm Sunday afternoon On Sunday the 26th, we were treated to glassy-calm seas. Very different conditions from the previous day! These condition were perfect for our first sighting of the day; a pod of between 80-100 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. The smooth surface of the ocean today allowed us to view the dolphins as if they were under a pane of glass; every detail of their markings and every movement they made while swimming was perfectly clear. I managed a few good photos myself; I know Oktay is going to send me some of his photos later and I'm sure his pictures will make mine look terrible by comparison, but for now I am very satisfied with these few keepsakes of this great dolphin encounter.
Also in the same area as the Dolphins were 5 Humpback whales. One of which, a whale called "Music", rolled over a few times an lifted the flipper in the air though I wouldn't call it flipper-slapping. More like just playing at the surface. In any case we were also able to get good looks at Music's tail which bear the scars of a Killer Whale attack. Killer whales or "Orca" are the only natural predators of adult Humpback whales and Music was, at one point in his or her life, harassed by a pod of Orca and now has the scars the prove it. Orca were last seen in the Stellwagen Bank area nearly 30 years ago, so Music must have encountered these Orca somewhere else, but exactly where is a mystery.
After this great start to the trip we decided to head southeast towards where we had all the surface activity on Saturday. The spotting conditions were MUCH better today so we figured we were bound to find at least a few large whales. We were wrong! We ended up seeing AT LEAST 20-25 Harbor Porpoise (BY FAR the most I have ever seen in one trip) and 8-10 Minke whales. We also saw 1 Harbor seal and 11 Black-legged Kittiwakes (an unusual species of gull that we see only in winter and almost always far from shore.)
Black-legged Kittiwakes are a rare northern species of gull that we see in very small numbers each spring
Despite the lack of large-whale-sightings on this long ride to the south, the beautiful weather, calm seas, and the constant presence of Porpoise and Minke whales made is very pleasurable. Eventually, however, we decided that we better head back north and re-find the whales we had seen earlier. On our way we ended finding the same unidentified mother and calf pair from yesterday! Once again, the mother did not lift her tail so she is still a mystery-mom.
This is as close as she came to lifting her tail! Then the highlight of the trip: We sighted a lone Humpback whale playing with a patch of seaweed floating at the surface. When we approached for a closer look the whale abandoned the seaweed and "began playing with boat!" The whale swam in circles around the boat, repeatedly crossed under the boat making us run from side to side, and on a few occasions even lifted the head out of the water (a behavior called "spy-hopping") to look at the boat and the people onboard. What they think of what they are seeing is anyone's guess!
So it was a great weekend on the water. We had a bit of everything. At times we had to work for it, but that's nature watching for you! If you are willing to look hard have patience, more often then not you are rewarded with great sightings. We're happy that we were able to share both of these great (but different) trips with people this weekend.
I'll have another update after our trips NEXT weekend! Best, Jay Random sighting of the week: After arriving home from work on Saturday look what I found poking around under the bird feeders!
Wild Turkey, Hamilton, MA
______________________________________________________________________________ All photos on this page were taken aboard the 7 Seas Whale Watch boat "Privateer IV" on April 25 and 26, 2009 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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A flipper-slapping Humpback Whale
Orca teeth-marks on Music's tail
Music rolling at the surface
Oktay managed this
great photo of a harbor porpoise!
