August 20, 2012 Whale Watches

9 am and 2 pm Whale Watches - Krill 

Here is some video from this morning's trip. It has some video of the ocean sunfish and of the humpbacks that were feeding at the surface during our trip. Enjoy!

9 am trip:

Enlarged view of chopped off dorsal fin.

As we headed offshore in the morning, the winds were light and the seas were very calm. Our first sighting was of an ocean sunfish that was swimming on its side at the water's surface. This fish just seemed to be resting in the calm water. We got a great look at this animal and noticed that both its dorsal fin and anal fin were chopped off.  These injuries could have been caused by a vessel collision or by an attack from a large fish like a shark.

Elephant and Putter traveling together. 

Elephant surface lunging. 

We continued to the east and picked up two humpback whales that were feeding together. We identified this pair as Putter and Elephant who were feeding at the surface along with a large concentration of seabirds.

Putter fluking out.

Putter straining at the surface. 

It was amazing to see these animals creating a bubble net to help them concentrate the small baitfish that they were feeding on. As the bubble rose to the surface, we waited in anticipation for the whales to lunge mouth's open through the cloud. Once they did surface with water and fish in their mouth's they then started straining to push the water back out, leaving only the fish inside.

Ventral tail pattern of Putter. 

As we watched in awe, other humpback whales moved into the area. We saw Palette and calf come into this area and Palette started feeding with another whale named Aerospace. We also had Midnight and Tunguska in the area, but these adults were feeding on their own.

Palette chin-kick feeding. 

Palette straining at the surface.  

Palette and calf. 

As we headed out of the area, one of our passengers picked up a small group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and watch this pod so continued our trip back to the dock.

Palette's calf doing a lob tail. 

Palettes calf lobtailing. 

Seabirds on this mornings trip included: manx shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, Northern gannets (juveniles), common terns and laughing gulls.

Recently I received a photo from a young photographer who was aboard one of the Dolphin Fleet vessels this same morning. Thanks to John Cook for sending me this image of a calf breaching right off the stern of the Tails of the Sea. Nicely done!

2 pm trip:

Palette's calf lobtailing.

We headed back to the east side of Stellwagen Bank for our afternoon trip and found that the whales had moved south and closer to the beach. Our first sighting was a single humpback named Circuit that was traveling slowly to the southeast. To our total surprise, the whale breached off our port bow. Everyone was totally amazed to see this animal clear the surface of the water. I want to thank Debra Reynolds for sending in these photos of Circuit breaching. I totally missed the shot as it was very unexpected. Nice job Debra!

Circuit settled down and we continued to watch this humpback and a few more that were scattered throughout the area. We were able to identify Reflection and Spirit as the other single whales in the area.

Fluke out dive by Circuit.

Satellite tag on the left dorsal fin of Circuit.

Fluke out dive by Spirit. 

We moved back north, closer to the south end of the bank, and picked up a trio of whales that included a mother and calf humpback whale. This mom was Palette and her calf was just as playful as ever. We identified the third humpback in this grouping as Tunguska, a male born in 1997 to a mom named Leukos. Both Leukos and Tunguska have very white ventral tail patterns, but that doesn't always happen when comparing the patterns of mother's and their calves.

Palette chin-kick feeding.  

Palette chin-kick feeding.  

Palette was chin-kick feeding at the surface which is a very showy display. First she smacks the surface of the water with her chin and then she follows this by hitting the surface with her tail before diving deep. We assume that both Palette and Tunguska were helping to create the bubble net that was concentrating the small baitfish in the middle of the structure. Then both adults would surface mouth's wide open in the middle of the net.

Palette chin-kick feeding right off our bow. 

Palette chin-kick feeding right off our bow.

Palette chin-kick feeding right off our bow.

Palette chin-kick feeding right off our bow.

Palette chin-kick feeding right off our bow.

Palette chin-kick feeding right off our bow.

Straining by Palette and Tunguska with calf to right. 

Straining. 

At one point and time, first the calf and then the feeding adults surfaced right off our bow. Our captain, Capt. Russ Burgess, did an excellent job of going slow and drifting when around the whales so that we were never moving when they came up suddenly next to the vessel.

Palette's calf lobtailing off our bow. 

Palette's calf flipper slapping. \

An amazing day offshore with great looks at endangered humpback whales, minke whales and many different species of seabirds. Seabird sightings included: Wilson's storm petrels, greater shearwaters, manx shearwaters, Cory's shearwaters, common terns and laughing gulls.