More New Tails on the Ledge!

As the Prince of Whales left Newburyport today, we were unsure of what we would find on Jeffreys Ledge. With the rain this week, we hadn't left the dock since Monday, and as we know, a lot can change in a day or two! But all of our apprehensions were put aside as we spotted our first blow.

Two humpback whales were spotted first. Valley, who was seen on Monday feeding with Tripod, had now found a new friend to hang out with, Quote! Quote and Valley are both adult females, and I was excited to see Quote (with her asymmetrically shaped tail) as this was her first appearance of the summer!

Next stop- Satula!! A male humpback first observed in 1988, Satula has been seen on the Ledge every year from 2000-2007. He was not seen last year which kept us wondering what may have happened to him! But alas, he must have been playing hide and seek with us, as he is back again this year! Satula lost his dorsal fin a few years back, and we still don't know how or why.

While watching Satula, a finback whale and a minke whale popped up in the same area. Finbacks are huge- about 70 feet long- the length of 2 school buses! Minkes are "small" at average lengths of 20-30 feet!

As we continued on, we came upon 2 more humpbacks- Chromosome and Tripod. Again, Tripod and Valley were seen together on Monday. Seems Tripod and Valley had changed up their partners of choice in the past few days! Chromosome, named for the large black X on the left side of its fluke, is also a new visitor to the Ledge this year! At this point, we are unsure of Chromosome's gender as this whale has yet to be seen with a calf. Another minke whale was seen nearby, and a second fin whale came into the area as we were leaving.

Certainly another great day on Jeffreys Ledge! Thanks for visiting and we hope to see you again soon!

With the sunshine back out today and the wind calming down by the moment, the day was looking like a great day to spend out on the Ledge. Turns out we were right! As we headed to the southern region of Jeffrey's this morning we were lucky enough to spot a Humpback whale 10 miles from Rye Harbor. It was Solas who was last seen on the 4th of July! Who knows where this whale spent it's week but we were happy to see it return to our area.

Once on the Ledge we found two adult female Humpback whales. We know both these whales are females because we have seen both with calves in previous years. Once born it is the female whale who travels with the calf up from the breeding and calving grounds in the Caribbean waters to the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine to forage for food. A calf will spend approximately 6-7 months with their moms learning different behaviors before the the calf splits off from it's mom to live it's own solitary life. Anyway, turns out we saw Valley and Quote. Quote has yet to be seen on the Ledge this year so it was exciting to know she continues to be alive and well.

This afternoon held some more great whale sighting when we headed back to the southern end of Jeffrey's and were treated to completely different whales once we got there. We found Flask and Hornbill, both Humpback whales and presumed male due to the fact these whales have never been seen with calves. Flask was first seen in 1982 and Hornbill was first spotted in 1977 clearly making these whales adults no matter what year they were actually born. We also came across 3 different Minke whales in our travels in and around Jeffrey's. Finally we were treated to 4 different fin whales. Two of these whales were moving around together and really got to see such a great comparison in size between 40-50ft Humpback whales and 60-70ft Fin whales. A beautiful day and some awesome whales is a great way to begin another weekend out in the Gulf of Maine.

If you give a whale a sand eel....

It's been a crazy and amazing couple of days out on the boats with more whale sightings for me than the entire month of June! It seems like it's finally summer and that the feeding frenzy in the Gulf of Maine has really begun. I feel so lucky to be able to witness the awesome power and beautiful gracefulness of all the whales in these waters, and to observe such complex feeding behaviors (all things that as a normally land-locked person I've never been able to see before!) Watching humpbacks collectively bubble feed and finbacks sprint through the water into a lunge feed throwing half their body out of the water never fails to make me gasp in amazement. And a playful pod of dolphins (my first sighting of Atlantic White-sided dolphins...) was an awesome treat as well. The passengers out on the boats with us have also been great with tons of questions about whale communication and migrations, their contagious curiosity only sparks my interest in these animals even more! Working as an intern for Blue Ocean Society and being out on the water observing these magnificent and yet mysterious animals in their natural habitat is truly making this a summer I will never forget!

He's Back!

What a day! First of all, thanks to all of our enthusiastic bird and whale watchers who joined us yesterday aboard the Prince of Whales in Newburyport, and to Dr. Larson and Dr. Weaver for for their expertise with the birds! This was by far the best trip of the season!

We began our trip by learning all that is known about many pelagic species of birds that were observed. Did you know that a northern gannet can dive from a height of 100 feet without breaking its wings? Or that a parasitic jaeger makes its living by stealing food from other birds? In all, eight species of off-shore birds were seen. Dr. Larson was keeping a tally- here are his totals:
225 Northern Gannets
4580 Wilson's Storm Petrels
1 Parasitic Jaeger
900 Greater Shearwaters
650 Sooty Shearwaters
8 Cory's Shearwaters
1 Roseate Tern
1 Laughing Gull

Wow, that was a lot of birds! As you can tell by the images of the Greater Shearwater and the Gannets, the weather was absolutely beautiful off shore! Barely a ripple was on the water! The excellent sea state also helped us find some pelagic cetaceans- whales!

We began our whale adventure by finding a very relaxed finback whale. This huge critter was taking a breath every 30 seconds or so- possibly taking a nap! With the glassy seas, we had perfect conditions for looking into the water to see the whale as it slowly cruised just below the surface.

As we continued our seach, we spotted a couple of blows in the distance, still a couple of miles ahead. As we approached, we found a humpback whale who had lost its dorsal fin. Several humpbacks are knows to not have fins anymore- mostly adult males, but not all. A whale named Tigris was seen a few days ago, and he had no fin so I was thinking this must be Tigris again...or at least I did until the whale lifted its tail. This was Satula!! Satula is one of my favorite humpback whales! I have been watching him since 1996, and he has been seen every year from 2000-2007. Last year when we didn't find Satula, we expected he might be no longer with us :( But alas, he has returned!! Hooray!

Soon after we left the humpback whale, an energtic minke whale poked out- literally! Minkes have a very pointed rostrum, and often the tip of the rostrum will poke out before the whale exhales. This little whale was poking its nose out pretty far with each breath, showing us why it is also referred to as the "little piked whale".

With three species of baleen whales under our belt, we were feeling really good about the trip. We then noticed two more humpback nearby. Upon checking out these whales, we found they were Sedge and Hornbill- also adult males like Satula. Hornbill had actually breached (jumped out of the water) in the distance while we were following Sedge. We decided to see what all the fuss was about. Of course, as we moved closer to Hornbill, he ceased his breaching display, but he did show us how much he cares for us by leaving us a lovely bright red gift in his wake! Thanks buddy!

The clock was ticking and we were thinking about heading for home, but decided to take the long road home and cruised over some other areas before heading to the west. Up ahead, Captain Bill saw a blow- then another- then a third...lots more whales up here!

One humpback was spotted just to the north- it was swimming away and we chose not to follow it. I'm not sure who that whale was but it also breached about a half mile away! Some luck folks on the upper deck were treated by that awesome sight!

Instead of following that single whale, we headed for a pair. This turned out to be Valley and Tripod (not Clamp as I had originally said- oops, my bad!)- 2 adult females who were traveling together and eventually started feeding together. Both of these ladies last calved in 2007, and it is quite possible they may be pregnant again now! The cooperative bubble feeding display was quite impressive. One of the two would dive down and blow a big column of bubbles around a school of small fish. The bubbles work to trap the fish. Both of the whales then came crashing through the surface water, mouths wide open and full of food! Humpbacks eat about 1.5 tons of fish per day. Hungry moms!


Well, now we were definitely out of time...so we thought. Yet another humpback was nearby, also, blowing bubbles, and as we sadly had to ignore that whale, we saw another humpback and finback in the area to the west! Do the sightings ever end?? Our intern, Philip, was on his 5th data sheet of the day! As we were out of time, we didn't stay long, but managed to get a quick look at both of these animals, but no great identifying shots. As we picked up speed, we passed by another minke whale. Our total was 17 whales and one quick glimpse of a harbor seal! What a day!

Feeding frenzy...

With the return of the sunshine, the whales followed. We aboard the Granite State had several Fin whales yesterday, with a few familiar faces. We identified our first Fin whale of the day as #9724. This whale first seen in 1997, treated us to great looks before moving closer to the ledge. As we approached Jeffrey's we were surprised to find a trio of Fin whales travelling together. At one moment, they seemed very curious about us, coasting right along our right side. Here's a photo of one of them. Fin whales are idividually identified by their dorsal fin, chevron pattern, and other unique markings along their back. This whale has a unique marking along the left side that resembles a screw of some sort. Hopefully this marking will help with the identification of this adult fin whale. While with the trio, one of them went on a dive to search for more food and left behind a brown cloud. Yes, the whale defecated! A good sign of a healthy whale.

Another highlight of our day was finding our first toothed-whales of the season. We were lucky enough to see about 20 Atlantic White Sided dolphins during the day and our passengers shared in our enthusiasm.

Today began with flat calm seas and sunny skies. We could all sense that it would be a good day out on the Ledge, and we were right! We had a variety of marine mammal sightings including Harbor porpoise, Minke, Fin, and Humback whales. Fin whale #9724 paid us another visit this morning and I couldn't think of a better way to start off our day. As we moved closer to the Ledge, it came alive with a flurry of bird and whale activity. As we looked down into the water, we could see small fish right underneath the surface...small herring was the choice of food today and they were all over the place. We had several bubble feeding Humpacks taking advantage of all this food. Two adult females, Valley and Tripod were helping each out and syncrinizing their movements. The whales would contniue to make bubble cloud after bubble cloud, corralling food for a mid-afternoon meal. Today, our passengers witnessed nature at it's best! Thank you to everyone who joined us. I will remember the last couple of days for a long time to come.

A Little Bit of Everything

What a weekend! With the sunshine finally back from behind the clouds life on land and out at sea seemed to be bountiful. Friday brought excitement when we were treated to 3 Fin whales swimming together. Being the second largest animal in the world (average lengths range between 60-70ft) not only was is great to see one of these animals but to have 3 right next to each other was amazing! This sight is a bit rare due to the fact that Fin whales require 1 million calories a day and thus are usually seen moving around alone searching for enough food to eat. Could these whales be working together to find food? How long have they been travelling with each other? With all that we know about Fin whales there is still so much we have yet to figure out. Thanks to photo-documentation and behavioral sequencing on large marine mammals, due to the Blue Ocean Society, we continue to collect valuable data of whales seen on Jeffrey's Ledge during a whale watch. This data helps us to continue learning about these incredible creatures. It is truly all of you passengers and great whale watch companies that provide the platform and the ability to go out in the first place to watch and learn about these marine inhabitants. So thank you! Of course the holiday weekend had just begun and apparently more was in store for everyone going whale watching.

On the 4th of July we found whales quite inshore from Jeffrey's Ledge and we quickly found out why. The area was full of food! The top portion of our fish finder (as you can see in the photo) was picking up a HUGE amount of fish in the area. The ocean floor was 184ft deep and from the surface down to about 120ft was a massive grouping of fish. That's where we found a Humpback whale named Solas.

The last time we saw this whale on the Granite State was July 10, 2008! Almost an entire year later this whale is back in our area. Incredible!! This whale was doing some amazing feeding behaviors known as bubble cloud feeding and kick feeding. Both involve the whale corralling fish into a tight group before the whale swims up under the fish with it's mouth wide open to capture the fish. Thanks to our bird watching friends we were also lucky enough to see 3 species of Jaegers: the Pomarine, Parasitic and Long-tailed! The day also provided sightings of Minke whales, Fin whales and tons and tons of pelagic birds. The birds were going after the fish the whales were unable to catch in their mouth and provided quite the show all day long! We had more bubble cloud feeding by a Humpback whale and a lunge feeding Fin whale both of which were surrounded by birds swarming the area in the afternoon. Such an awesome sight.


Jeffrey's Ledge continued to team with life on Sunday. We saw 3 more Fin whales grouped together, one of which we believe was one of the 3 seen on Friday in the group. Of course that will have to be confirmed by Dianna Schulte, the queen of Fin whale Identification, as she continues one of her many Blue Ocean Society duties matching these whales. More Minke whales were scattered throughout the Ledge and another first of the season was found.


We came across a group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins! This pod of dolphin spent some time swimming at our bow as well as in our boat wake as the crew and passengers were elated to watch these whales all around the boat. It was the first sighting of these dolphins for us even though they had been reported by some of the offshore fishing boats a couple times this season. Atlantic white-sided dolphins are fast swimming animals and can easily move away from an area in a short period of time. So it was a real treat to intersect with their travel pattern before they continued on. Our Blue Ocean Society intern on board, Keeley, got to experience her first time of seeing this particular type of dolphin making the trip even more exciting.


From what I have heard here on land today there is still a lot of life out on the Ledge and can't wait to get back on the boat this week. Come on out whale watching and find out for yourself what is out there!

Momma fin whale!

Sunday on the Prince of Whales, we were treated to two species- minke and fin whales! With the rain finally out of the picture, we cruised out to Jeffreys Ledge with the bright summer sun, and a little bit of wind at our backs! Summer is finally here!

A minke popped up and was spotted by a diligent passenger to give us our first sighting of the day. This 25-foot whale was easy to keep track of as it stayed close by and didn't give us the "minke slip". From there, we cruised along the edge of the ledge and found another minke whale along with a finback whale! Finbacks are still my favorite, and I was excited to see who this whale was. We got some pretty good looks, but I'm still not sure who this friend was. More work looking at our catalogs is needed, or perhaps it could be a new friend!

As we said goodbye to the whales and headed for home, I mentioned that folks should keep there eyes out for possibly more whales on the trip in from the ledge. Sure enough, two more fin whales popped up in front of us! One of these whales we were able to see VERY closely as she turned right for us and swam in front of our bow!! Definitely the best look at a finback that I've had in a long time! With the whale so close, I thought I knew her. Glancing at our on-board catalog, I confirmed my suspicion. This was #9904! (I know- not a very exciting name...) 9904 has been watched on Jeffreys Ledge since 1999, and has been seen every year since 2002. We have known she is a female since 2005 when we first saw her with a calf, and just last year she brought her second known calf to the ledge!

As we were running out of time with 9904, we saw another fin whale just a mile to the south. We didn't have time to head that way, so we continued to the west, toward Newburyport and the setting sun. As I was on the back deck talking with some local passengers, the boat slowed down yet again! Another fin whale surfaced! This made for the 4th fin whale of the trip! Now we were really running late but wanted to see who this was, especially since on our approach, we saw it lunge-feeding at the surface, creating quite a ruckus! Of course, once we got near it, it stopped its feeding display, but hopefully a few of you were able to see the big splash it created. I haven't had time to positively ID this whale, but I know it is familar and is in our catalog. It has a small scar/dent on the front of its dorsal fin. I'll update as soon as I know for sure who this one is! Stay tuned!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our inquisitive guests who came along today. Your questions about sleeping and diving were very thoughtful. I always enjoy meeting new people and am always curious to know where you all are from and if you have seen whales in other places. Today we had visitors from Holland as well as a whale watcher who has watched whales in Baja, Mexico with a company I used to work for ! If anyone has further questions, please comment here and I'll be sure to respond. Thanks!