12 noon Whale Watch - Krill
We headed offshore on a beautiful fall day towards the southern area of Stellwagen Bank and within the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Here we saw a number of small fishing boats including a lobster vessel that was pulling their lobster traps.
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| Cory's shearwater. |
We also started seeing a number of pelagic birds including manx shearwaters and Cory's shearwaters. Soon we picked up a number of blows a bit more to the east. One whale was spending a good deal of time on the surface, and as we approached, we realized that this was Rapier's 2009 calf.
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| Ventral tail pattern of Rapier's 2009 calf. |
This young animal has been hit by a boat and cuts are clearly seen on the tail stock and beginning of the fluke area. Luckily, Rapier's 2009 calf survived this vessel strike, but not all whales are so lucky.
At one point, this young animal lifted its head a bit out of the water giving us a great look at the tubercules or bumps that all humpbacks have on the top of their heads.
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| Tubercules on the head of Rapier's 2009 calf. |
As we continued to watch Rapier's 2009 calf, it arched its back and fluked out once again. This gave us a good view of the injury on its tail stock as well as the beautiful black and white pattern on the ventral tail.
Here is another fluke out sequence of this animal on its right side, and this sequence gives you a better view of that healed injury.
This animal will probably be named by researchers this coming spring and it will be interesting to see what name it is given. All in all, a beautiful day offshore with great views of at least 10 humpback whales, 5 minkes whales and many seabirds.
Seabirds seen offshore include: manx shearwaters, Cory's shearwaters, phalaropes, Northern gannets and common terns. Humpback whales identified offshore include: Rapier's 2009 calf, Pox and Pumba.
