Whale Watching Trip on July 25, 2009

11 am Whale Watch Trip - Krill

A beautiful day offshore with light winds out of the southwest and a 1 foot swell out of the southeast. As we headed to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, we picked up a pair of humpbacks that were resting at the surface. This turned out to be Nile and her calf of this year. As we watched this pair, we saw splashing approximately 1/2 mile to the north. Using binoculars, we realized that we had a small pod of dolphins. Unfortunately, this small family group was out of our area when we finally left Nile and calf.

We moved more to the east and picked up a number of additional sightings that included pairs or singles of humpback whales. All of these animals were taking it easy at the surface of coming up for only a few breaths. When the whales are in this mode, it makes it difficult to get good looks at the animals. However, we were able to ID Pixar and I.T.  But to our luck, our last sighting was a pair of humpbacks that turned out to be Trident and Leukos. Originally this pair was also resting at the surface. But as we drifted in the area, both animals changed their behavior quite dramatically and dove very quickly beneath the surface. Then they both came shooting out of the water as both whales did a spinning head breach just seconds apart from one another.

After this breach or jump, Trident returned to the surface and started lobtailing (lifting the flukes out of the water and smashing them on the water) and flippering. What a fabulous look at what humpbacks do best - show off!  But we really don't know what got Trident and Leukos so excited. Perhaps it was the presence of other whales in the area or quite a few boats in the whale's general vicinity. As we headed home, folks aboard the boats were excited about our sightings today. 

We don't see these types of active behaviors as often as we would like. That is just part of wildlife viewing. Mother Nature has her own ideas in mind for what is happening offshore. But when you do get a chance to see a large, mature female humpback like Trident jump or breach clear out of the water, it is a life transforming moment for many of us. 

Whale Watching Trips on July 20, 2009

9 am Seabird Report - Ian

The 9am whale-watch today on the Captain John Boats out of Plymouth was wonderful, perfect viewing conditions, beautiful weather, and some interesting birds and whales made for a great day. Some of the strangeness was right in the harbor, beginning with a Brant flying in and landing on the inside of the tip of Plymouth Beach as we were leaving, and continuing with no less than SEVEN jaegers in the usual no-mans land on the way to the bank, where there is usually a dearth of birds.

The interesting thing about the jaegers is that I had more Long-tailed (!!) than

 any other species today! On the way out there was a Pomarine in Plymouth water

s, I practically know when to start looking for this bird now! In my last 4 trips I've had one of what I believe are the same two birds hanging out on the path to the bank. Next was a Parasitic sitting on the water, still in Plymouth. Once in Barnstable waters, we came upon a flock of three jaegers sitting on the water. I

 photographed them as they took off, and I managed to discern that two of them were Long-tailed, with the third one most likely being one as well, but I am unsure of that. On the corner itself was another Long-tailed, and on the way back in there were two distant jaegers that are left to the realms of jaeger mystery.

As we were returning, and passing the Gurnet at the tip of Duxbury Beach, I noticed in the direction of Plymouth Beach a bird with a very distinct slow, almost sleepy, flight. As I raised my binoculars in disbelief, a second Cory's Shearwater joined the first one, as they left Plymouth Bay (!!) and heade

d back out to the ocean. Just when I thought it couldn't get any stranger, we had another Cory's much farther into the bay, right off of the tip of Plymouth Beach, by the Bug Light. To put that in perspective, for all you people who came and saw the Plymouth Ivory Gull, you could have scoped this Cory's from that parking lot.

There was also a great whale show in addition to seeing Gray and Harbor Seals, albeit the latter two quite briefly. Nile and calf put on a wonderful show, breaching in all sorts of ways, including the calf leaping fully out of the water less than 5 feet off of the port bow. Minke and Finback Whales also popped in for cameo appearances.

Stellwagen Bank - SW Corner:

Cory's Shearwater - 203     *High count. Mixed in with the Greaters. Ratio of Cory's to Greaters is growing.

Greater Shearwater - 1173

Sooty Shearwater - 128

shearwater sp. - 550     Probable >80% Greater. Flocks on the horizon.

Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 78

Northern Gannet - 9

Laughing Gull - 27

Herring Gull (American) - 14

Great Black-backed Gull - 38

Common Tern - 30

Pomarine Jaeger - 1     *Rare in Plymouth waters. One of the 2 individuals that has been hanging around in Plymouth waters for almost a week now, right on the path of the boat to the bank. I've had at least one Pomarine Jaeger in Plymouth waters for four trips in a row now.

Parasitic Jaeger - 1     *Rare in Plymouth waters. Dark-morph bird sitting on the water.

Long-tailed Jaeger - 3     *Unusual. Most years a Long-tailed Jaeger would be a banner sighting, but not this year. Two birds in a flock of three on the way out to the bank, and and a lone bird seen east of the corner. A picture of two of the birds can be seen at:http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/CaptJoh

nBoatTrips2009#5

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jaeger sp. - 3

Also, last Wednesday (7/15), a Manx Shearwater was seen in Plymouth waters en route to Stellwagen.

9 am Whale Watch - Krill 

As we headed to the southern end of Stellwagen Bank, we saw a huge splash off our bow. This turned out to be a sighting of Nile and her calf of this season. This is Nile's fourth calf that has been photographed in our area. 

Both Nile and the calf were breaching out of the water. As we held our position and waited for the pair to come to the surface, the calf breached less than a foot off our Port bow. In all my years of working offshore, I have never seen a whale breach this close to a boat. After the calf breached, mom breached a little further off the bow. What a sight!

The calf was also flippering as it did a complete barrel-roll from one side to the other. At one point, Nile lifted her tail straight out of the water and then fell into the water sideways (see image to the right). What a site to behold when you remember that Nile is probably close to 50 feet in length which is the size of a school bus.

As we continued to watch this very energetic pair, it was clear that mom was getting tired. Nile started logging at the surface as the calf continued to remain active. At one point, the calf rose strai

ght out of the water head first (spyhop) as it attempted to look around (see image above). We finally left this pair as they slowly headed towards Provincetown. 

Whale Watching Trips on July 10, 2009

9 am Whale Watch Trip - Krill 

We headed to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank and in this area found quite a few whales as well as commercial and recreational whale watching vessels. As we stopped to watch a pair of juvenile humpback whales, we were pleasantly surprised when they came right over to the boat and gave us a close approach. As we drifted with our engines in neutral, this pair just drifted with us off our port side. These are special moments when the whales decide to interact with us. And it is during such encounters that we get a better feel for just how special and magnificent these animals truly are. 

As we moved off, we picked up a few more juvenile humpbacks that were in this same area. But the most exciting sighting was a trio that included Nile and her calf of this season as well as a smaller whale named Forceps. Nile and Forceps appeared to be feeding deep as they charged through the water in circling patterns. Nile's calf was spending more time on the surface and appeared to be waiting for mom to come back up. To our surprise, a fourth humpback whale soon joined this trio making it difficult to keep track of the individuals at the surface. But what fun to see hour whales moving in synchrony with one another, almost as if their movements had been choreographed and rehearsed.

At the end of our trip, we picked up a single humpback whale named Habenero who was feeding using bubble nets and clouds. The bait fish must have been deep for Habenero was not lunging mouth open at the water's surface. It seemed that all the action was happening just a few feet beneath the surface. But still a great look at feeding by a baleen whale. 

Our seabird sightings continue to be excellent offshore. We are still seeing large numbers of Cory's shearwaters, greater shearwaters and Wilson's storm petrels. We are also seeing smaller number of sooty shearwaters as well as manx.

2 pm Whale Watch Trip - Krill 

On the afternoon trip, the whales were more low key and were spending more time beneath the surface. Our first sighting was a smallish mother and calf pair. This pair seemed to have a destination in mind as they slowly swam to the southeast. 

Our next sighting was a humpback whale named Habenero who was also heading a bit east. As we followed Habenero, this whale seemed to lead us into an area with a small group of humpback whales scattered throughout. We were able to identify Tracer who fluked-up right next to the boat. 

Whale Watching Trips on July 17, 2009

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watching Trips - Joanne

We had a very nice day weather wise, with calm seas, light winds, hazy skies and warm air. We spent both trips on the SW corner of Stellwegan, the 9 am slightly to the west and the 2 pm a lil more on the bank.

In the morning, we had actively feeding, including bubble feeding, kick feeding, open mouths, dragging, snaking, rolling. We were surrounded by small fishing boats and feeding whales. There were a few 'close encounters' between the small boats and large whales. At one point, two of the fishing boats stopped fishing and were watching whales. In addition, we had finback whales circling and feeding in pairs and trios. One lunging and rolling upside down.  And dozens of minkes charged through the area as well.

We had Nile and calf, Crown, Sirius, Lavalier and calf, and Habanero, along with unknown juvenile feeding within a few hundred feet of each other and us.  Many more were heading to the same area as the feeding whales as we departed.  15-20 humpbacks total.

For the afternoon trip, it was a much different trip.The whales were very low profile and mainly logging.  There were still quite a few in the area, but spread out and very calm. 

We watched Alphorn and Forceps for a bit, traveling together. The pair looked like a mom/calf with the extreme size difference of the adult and juvenile.  They were diving in perfect sequence, fluking at the same time. 

The highlight of this trip was a social trio which was spyhopping and gave us a close boat approach. Banyan, Jabiru and Pipette were spyhopping, sometimes two whales at a time. They were actively touching and rolling near each other and around and under us. 

Id's for humpback whales included: Peninsula, I.T., Alphorn and Forceps, Banyon, Pipette,  and Jabiru.