Blue Ocean Society's Whale Sightings

Greetings! Thanks for visiting our blog. Our staff and interns will be posting their experiences here working on whale watch boats in NH and MA.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July 3 on the Granite State

We had another "Grand Slam" day today. We came across many different baleen whales as well as a pod of toothed-whales during our trips to Jeffreys Ledge today.

Our morning trip included our Atlantic white-sided dolphins as they actually crossed paths with one of our Humpback whales we were watching. What a size comparison! Since dolphins give birth to their young in the Spring some of these whales were only 3-5ft long and seen next to an animal upwards of 20-30ft long, it was quite the sight! While we have yet to identify our Humpback whale, its size was on the smaller side relative to some of the adult Humpback whales we see in the area, and so we believe it may be a juvenile whale. The blowholes and tail of our unknown Humpback whale
Time will tell when we get a chance to match up our tail shots with the Humpback Whale Catalogue and see just how old this animal is!


We also had an amazing sighting of a mother and calf Humpback whale pair. After seeing this calf nurse several times close by we discovered it was Diablo and her 2010 calf. We watched as the calf would alternate which side it would surface in relationship to its mom, swimming underneath to consume some very fatty milk before coming up for a breath and continuing the process. Incredible. It was a crazy morning and I hope all of passengers truly enjoyed their experience.


As for the afternoon we seemed to come across a hot spot for whale activity when at one point we were surround by 5 different whales! We kept seeing whales spouting at the surface in almost every direction around the boat. We had mostly Fin whales cruising around the area but also found the Humpback whale Hornbill, a whale we have seen a handful of times so far this season quickly becoming one our of "regulars" to the Ledge for the time being. Since whales are always searching for food many times whales will come to Jeffreys Ledge and then continue on towards other feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine. For whatever reason Hornbill has been spending quite some time here on the Ledge and we have enjoyed seeing this whale for the past few weeks. While spending time with this adult (Hornbill was first sighting in 1977!) we got a few close looks at a Fin whale as it surfaced close by before continuing on its way.



Can't wait to see what awaits all of us tomorrow for another journey to Jeffreys Ledge!


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