Skies were bright and clear and winds were light out of the northwest as we left the dock and traveled through scenic Plymouth Harbor. As we passed my favorite lighthouse, the Duxbury Pier Lighthouse, we marveled at the hundreds of sea ducks resting on the water's surface.
Many duck and seabirds are staging in preparation of their long flights to southern wintering area. We are seeing flocks of Common Eiders, White-winged Scoters, Surf Scoters and Northern Gannets (adults and juveniles) offshore.
As we approached the west side of Stellwagen Bank, we observed a number of commercial and recreational fishing boats working the waters above the bank. One large dragger was hauling up their nets and this attracted the attention of hundreds of seabirds and gulls. Many of these birds were hoping to grab some of the trash fish that the fishermen were throwing back into the water.
Once offshore on the east side of Stellwagen Bank, we picked up our first sighting which was still a few miles east of our position. What caught our attention (as we scanned the horizon with binoculars) was a white flipper being raised high above the water's surface. Finding whales using mainly visual cues is still the best way to locate animals some distance from the boat.
Hard to believe that with all the technology available to us, there isn't an instrument that can do better then our eyes and a good pair of binoculars. Nice to know that some things haven't changed.
As we approached this sighting, we realized that we had special sighting for it included a mother and calf humpback pair traveling with another adult humpback whale. Once we got a look at the ventral tail patterns, we were able to identify the mom as a whale named Circuit who was swimming alongside her calf of this year.
This calf won't receive a name until it is 2 or 3 years old for the black & white pattern on the bottom of the tail can change significantly until the animal is older. But we were able to identify the third humpback who turned out to be a whale named Etchasketch.
The calf was very active at the surface as it lobtailed, flipper-slapped and spy-hopped just off the side of the boat. As the calf lifted it head above the surface of the water, we could see the barnacles attached to the underside of its chin. We could also see the ventral pleats that humpbacks and some other large whales have and use when feeding.
The calf was also blowing bubble not only beneath the water's surface and also at the surface. This was an interesting behavior to watch since the calves are very playful and do a number of unusual and goofy behaviors. Just like the kids of all mammals.
A fabulous day offshore for everyone. Not too many days as beautiful as this in terms of weather and sightings. We hope you can join us before the 2010 whale watch season ends. If not, see you in 2011.
Another humpback started to move into the area and joined this breaching/flippering (pectoral slaps) humpback. This whale was much less active, but did do a couple of tail breaches. Humpback whales, like all baleen whales are solitary animals, but quite social. They form associations that may last a few minutes or even hours, days, sometimes weeks. So, it's not unusual to see one whale join another. Perhaps the breaching had something to do with it.
