We had a great trip on the Atlantic Queen today, with our first 'grand slam' of the season! That's what we call a trip in which we see our 4 most common species - minke, fin and humpback whales, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Even though they're the most common species in the area, it's fairly rare to see all four of them in one trip.
We started out with great looks at a minke whale, then moved on to a pod of 15-20 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, who seemed to be feeding, as they were circling quickly and going down on long dives.
Following a hot tip from the Prince of Whales, we cruised out further and found a humpback, a 9-year old whale named Doric. Humpbacks are usually given their names based on a marking on their tail. The word doric is defined as: "the lowest order and simplest column in Grecian architecture, characterized by a heavy column with a plain saucer-shaped capital". Looking at the image below, I'm not sure where that came from, but maybe one of our other naturalists got a photo that better illustrates where Doric got her/his name!
Right before we turned for home, we spotted a fin whale. We got good looks at the whale, but it was moving quickly and circling a lot so I wasn't able to get a good identification photo, unfortunately. We also saw two more fin whales in the distance (you'll likely hear about those in the Granite State's report later on!), and then another one closer to home.
Things definitely seem to be picking up on the Ledge - it was great to have so much variety today. Thanks to all who came aboard, and for all your great questions and conversation. Hope to see you again soon!
Keep in touch!Become a Fan on Facebook || Follow Us On Twitter
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment