August 9th, Granite State

Often times, people will question us aboard the boat as to whether we get bored with going out day after day in search of whales. I always say "No," because sightings change from trip to trip and from day to day and whales are constantly moving around, travelling to different areas to feed all summer long. That is one of the main reasons why we collect population data throuhgout every season. Everyday is truely different out on Jeffrey's Ledge and if someone asked me today what I thought we might see, today's sightings would not have been mentioned. I may have said that we occasionally have rare sightings in our area and that one never knows what they might see when ventruing out in search of cetacean activity.

I say this because we had almost 20 Sei whales and 1 highly endangered North Atlantic Right Whale on each of our trips today and it was truely unexpected! Not only did we see the rarest baleen whale in the world, but we had another rare sighting as well and almost 20 of them throughout each trip! At one point during the morning we had close to a dozen Sei whales all around the boat and they were in groups of 4 or more!

When and if we get to see Sei whales, for the most part it is usually during the fall when they are travveling through the area feeding on zooplankton. In fact, the last time we had Sei whale activity was in May on the very first whale watch of the season. We can tell them apart from other whales (as far as species identification), by their large hooked dorsal fin, and the symmetrical coloration on both sides of their head. Sei whales look very similar to Fin whales, but fin whales are larger and they are asymmetrically colored, meaning they have a different coloration pattern on each side of their head. From afar, these two species can be mistaken for one another, but at a closer inspection, one can tell these 2 species apart by the characteristics mentioned. Sei whales are usually about 50+ feet long and weigh 30-40 tons!

Both Sei whales and Right whales feed mainly on zooplankton and here is one of our many samples taken throughout the day. Feeding conditions must have perfect today for these two rare species to be in the area and in high abundance for the Sei whales!

Today was truely unexpected and I will remember the experience for quite some time! Thank you to all our passengers who joined us today.

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