Today we sighted approximately 50 Humpback whales feeding on the eastern side of Stellwagen Bank.  This is obviously an unusually large number of whales to see in a single day... let alone a single trip!  We had to travel over 28 miles to find them, but I’m sure everyone onboard would agree it was well worth the ride (especially on such a beautiful day). 

It does not take 50 whales to make a great whale watch, indeed some of my favorite whale watches ever were ones in which only a handful of whales were sighted.  But that being said, witnessing such a large aggregation of feeding whales is amazing.  Everywhere there were groups of whales blowing huge “bubble clouds” (which the whales use to trap and concentrate fish) and then lunging to the surface with mouths wide open.  Some whales were feeding on their own, while others were in groups of 2, 3, 4 and one group of 7 whales were cooperatively feeding together.   It was extremely difficult to keep track of where each individual was at any one time, and that’s why I say APPROXIMATELY 50 Humpback whales were present.  To be honest, there were probably more as we could see the blows and splashes of feeding whales from where we were all the way out to the horizon (to the southeast).

Perhaps the most unusual sight of the day was of a Humpback whale calf (who’s mother is a whale called “Cajun”) who appeared to be feeding alongside its mother and other adults (photo to right).  This is unusual mostly because of the time of year.  Normally at this time of year the calves are exclusively nursing from their mothers and therefore not the least bit interested in eating fish.  By the end of the summer we sometimes see the calves imitating the feeding behavior of the adults which makes sense given that the calves only stay with their mothers for about 10 months to a year, so they need to learn to catch fish before about November (when they are weened).  But this is very early in the season for a new born calf to be joining in with the feeding adults.  It was really neat to see such a small whale lunging along side such larger ones!

We are very fortunate to have a place like Stellwagen Bank, one of the primary whale feeding areas in the North Atlantic, so close to our shore.   While we can never promise that we will see 50 whales on a trip (it is a nature trip after all), the biologically rich waters of Stellwagen Bank and adjacent areas does allow us unprecedented access to an abundance of whales and other marine wildlife.  This is why 7 Seas DOES guarantee you will see at least one whale per trip; and any time you see a wild, endangered whale it was a great day.  That being said, if the food base (small schooling fish) remains strong, I believe will have more trips like today’s.

19. S.Jay Frontierro
    

7 Seas Whale Watch Captain/Naturalist