9 am Whale Watch - Krill
We had a wonderful morning on Father's Day with clear skies and relatively calm seas. Our first sighting was a mother and calf humpback whale that were on the southern boundary of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. This pair turned out to be Boomerang and her calf of this year.
Boomerang has a very distinctive tail with a black core and a line/dot combination on the left fluke. Each humpback whale has a unique ventral tail pattern that can act like a fingerprint, allowing us to identify individuals over time. This technique is the basis of a long-term research project on humpback whales in our waters and data from Captain John Boats is adding to this extensive database.
We also had a few finback whales in the area and a few other humpback whales offshore. Although we take the needed photographs, we don't have the time to maintain our finback photo-ID catalogs. But this species can also be identified using natural body markings and pigmentation patterns.
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| Humpback whale named Owl. Vessel strike scars visible on her back. |
The star of the show today was the basking shark that was filter feeding just off our starboard side. This is the second largest fish in our waters and a gentle giant as they filter copepods and other small zooplankton from the water column. We don't often see basking sharks on our trips offshore, but we love it when we do! And basking sharks are the species of shark that you tend to see most for they spend the most time traveling or feeding close to the water's surface, hence the common name "basking" shark.
A happy Father's Day to all of our passengers today! To celebrate this special day, each Dad was given a complimentary marine wildlife button from the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) and a hug from the naturalists.
2 pm Whale Watch - Krill
We headed back to Stellwagen Bank and picked up a few of the same individuals that we had on the morning trip. But much had changed offshore which reminds us that life is dynamic offshore as the whales move with the tides, the bait fish and in relations with each other.
As we moved onto the western edge of the bank, we found 2 finbacks that were feeding separately, but in the same area. One finback was side lunging as it moved quickly through the fish that were just beneath the water's surface.
We also picked up a single humpback whale that turned out to be a whale named Half Moon. Half moon has a very triangular dorsal fin with some very distinctive white markings on it. Half Moon was feeding deep as the whale surfaced in a random manner, but never really moved far from its original location.
We also picked up Owl once again, who had been sighted on the morning trip. This adult female has a large gash on her back, an indication that she had been struck by a vessel much earlier in her life. She is fine and has been seen with many calves over the past years. It is amazing how resilient these animals are.
Our last sightings was a special pair, a mother and calf humpback whale. The mom turned out to be a whale named Tulip for she has a very black ventral tail pattern with some white markings that look like the particular flower. As Tulip dove coming towards our boat, we saw how thin she was. We even saw her ribs on the right side. Mom's provide much of the calve's nutrition its first year of life and we realize what an energetic strain this can be on all moms. So we assume that Tulip is fine and just feeling the demands of motherhood. Eat well Tulip!
For seabirds, we had sooty shearwaters, laughing gulls and Wilson's storm petrels.
