I spent the morning at the Seacost Science Center with our inflatable whale in honor of the opening of their new exhibit Tofu: Journey of a Humpback Whale. Then we had a great afternoon on the water aboard the Atlantic Queen. I can't say the seas were very calm, but they definitely made for an interesting ride! We started out with a minke, who was darting all over the place. Then we passed a few more minkes as we searched for a reported fin whale. The fin whale never materialized, but our buddies on the Granite State found a humpback, and called us to let us know. We cruised the few miles between us and came upon the humpback, "Trough," who has been seen a few times this season already.
Trough has an all-white tail, making it a "Type 1" to researchers, who categorize whales from Type 1 (all white) to Type 5 (all black) in our catalogs. Trough was a great sighting - taking very short dives and coming close to the boat several times, and offering great looks at its flukes as it dove.
We did a plan
kton tow and found it full of copepods, evidence that we were seeing the food chain in action - the copepods, tiny zooplankton (animal plankton) were likely drawing some bait fish to the area to feed, which were in turn being fed upon by Trough!Also had lots of birds today, including 1-2 fulmars, greater shearwaters, and lots of Wilson's storm petrels!
I am bummed that the weather looks so crummy the next few days, as it was great being on the water today. We are scheduled to go out daily now, weather permitting... hope you can join us soon and thanks to all the great folks who were onboard today, including a group from the Seacoast Newcomers Club!
Wilson's storm petrel(Still perfecting my bird photo-shooting skills!)
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