October 21, 2012 Whale Watch

12 noon Whale Watch - Krill 

On our way offshore, we passed a tug boat that was pulling a fuel barge. This tug boat was heading into Cape Cod Bay on their way to the Cape Cod Canal. We could see the tow cable extending from the stern of the tug boat to the bow of the fuel barge. This sighting reminds us of the large commercial traffic that our whales and other marine animals have to deal with on a daily basis. 

Tug boat pulling fuel barge.

Fuel barge. 

Tug boat and fuel barge heading into Cape Cod Bay.

On today's trip, we had to cover a lot of ground before finding humpback whales. Our NECWA intern, Rob and a few of our passengers spotted the first blow off to the port side. This turned out to be a small humpback that was feeding in the area. 

We stayed with this whale until another whale watching vessel came into the area. We share our sighting information with the other whale watch companies that operate out of Plymouth, Barnstable and Boston. By sharing information, we can cover a larger area in a shorter period of time, allowing us to learn quickly where the whales have moved over the course of the day and night. 

Exhalation by humpback whale Storm.

Our next sighting was another young whale that our captain identified as Storm. Storm was born in 2007 to a mother named Tulip. Interesting that in this area, we had two young humpback whales that both appeared to be feeding deep. 

Left dorsal fin of Storm. 

Fluke out dive by Storm.  

Ventral tail pattern of Storm. 

Storm's mother Tulip was seen earlier in the season with a new calf of this year.  Unfortunately, Tulip looked very emaciated and we were not able to determine the cause of her illness.  Since humpback mothers nurse their calves for almost a year, we were very worried not only about Tulip, but also about her young calf.  No one has seen Tulip in many weeks, but we hope the best for this very special pair.

This Sunday, we were once again joined by the Stellwagen Bank Bird Survey volunteers. Amy O'Neill just sent along this list of seabirds and sea ducks that they observed during our whale watching trip. And they spotted quite a few whales as

 well! Good eyes! Thanks Amy and your wonderful team including Liam Waters and Steve Arena.

64 Common Eider
1 Surf Scoter
7 White-winged Scoter
5 Common Loon
19 Cory's Shearwater
1 Great Shearwater
1 Manx Shearwater
44 Northern Gannet
6 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Red-necked Phalarope
14 Laughing Gull
129 Herring Gull
115 Great Black-backed Gull
207 Unidentified Gull

1 Unidentified Jaeger 

Humbpback whales identified include: Storm.