Monday on the Prince of Whales

What an awesome day on Jeffreys Ledge today!! After yesterday's rough and foggy weather, and sparse sightings, our expectations for today were a bit low. But, we were soon overwhelmed by whales all around us! The sheer number of whales- finback, minke and humpback whales was like nothing we've seen on the Ledge in years! At one point, I was asked what makes these whales endangered, and how they could possibly be endangered with so many whales all around us!

Of all of the whales and dolphins (which are technically whales), my personal favorite sightings were the finback whales. We don't know much about these huge animals so any chance to see them is an opportunity to learn more about them. The associations of individuals is always interesting to see which whales are hanging out together, and then we wonder why. We found finback #0526 with 3 others who were all being flanked by dolphins!! The second largest of all the animals on Earth swimming with these "tiny" dolphins (7-9 feet long) is really fun to witness.

We were also graced by a new mother finback whale with her calf. I looked up the mom in our catalog and found that she was first documented on Jeffreys Ledge just last year! She is #0802- any suggestions for a name for this new mom??

As for our humpback whales- we started with who I believe was Tigris, the whale without a dorsal fin. We then came upon Filament who was kick-feeding, a relatively new humpback whale feeding style, as well as a pair of humpbacks, Solas and Milkyway. These 2 were cooperatively feeding- one would blow a ring of bubbles around the school of fish while the other would surface just before the bubbles came up to slap its tail to stun the fish. Then they both crashed through the surface with their mouths wide open!!

Thanks for coming with us and supporting our research and conservation efforts. Here are a few images from today's trip. Enjoy!

Finback whale mother #0802

Humpback whales Milkyway and Solas

Filament's fluke

Filament's entanglement scar- the deep notch before her fluke

Milkyway and Solas feeding

Open mouth of a humpback whale- the top jaw is very flat while the lower jaw is like a ladle, collecting all the fish!

Bubble cloud!

Finback whale spout

Finback whale #0526

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