As we made our way past the Isles of Shoals we came across our first whale. It was a minke whale who has a horrific scar just before its dorsal fin. We have been seeing this minke whale over the past few days. The scar doesn't appear to be new, although it was most likely the result of a ship strike from years ago. The scar appears to be "healing," but research on scars is minimal and we do not know how extensive some of these injuries can be internally.
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| Minke whale reaching the surface. You can see its blow holes as well as the minke mittens (white patches on the pectoral flippers). |
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| Scar can be seen just to the right of the dorsal fin. |
In addition to watching whales we saw many different pelagic birds out on the water. Below is a picture of a juvenile common tern. These are very delicate looking birds with thin wings. We have been seeing many of these terns over the past few weeks.
Our second minke whale luckily did not have visible scars, but could be distinguished from the other minke whales that we saw during our trip because of the notch at the top of its dorsal fin.
Our third minke whale of the day had a much smoother dorsal fin, that was shorter than the other whales we saw during the trip.
We got a second look at our notched minke whale before making our way back to Rye Harbor. It is always nice to see multiple whale occupying one area. Baleen whales are solitary animals and are not typically seen in the same area. It must mean that there is an adequate supply of food for these particular whales. Thank you to everyone who joined us on the trip yesterday. We hope to see you again soon!
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