Owl

Owl is one of our marine creatures available for adoption, and one of our favorite whales to visit on the Ledge. We thought we'd tell you more about this interesting, curious whale.

Owl is a female humpback whale and was named for the two black dots on her tail, which reminded researchers of owl eyes.  Owl’s mother, Falco, gave birth to her in 1986.  We see Owl just about every year on Jeffrey's Ledge (and occasionally she spends time south on Stellwagen Bank, too).

Owl is often very social and sometimes will approach boats.  Proof of her social nature is the distinctive scar on her back, which was caused by a collision with a boat in 1988.  Luckily, the wound healed well, and although the scar is deep, it hasn't seemed to deter any of Owl's behavior and whale watchers are still fortunate enough to see her up close.  

Owl has had five known calves.  Her first was born in 1993 and was given the name Mesa.  Her second, Jib, came in 1998 and her third, Egreque, was born in 2001.  In 2003, Mermaid's Purse was born.

Most recently, in May 2008, we saw Owl with her fifth calf (not yet named). We were happy to see that Owl had returned to the Ledge once again, and extra happy when we saw her with a new calf.  Although humpback populations are currently pretty high, they are still listed as an endangered species.  So it's always nice to see new members of the population.  Since calves learn their migration patterns from their mother, we hope to see this calf on the Ledge in the coming years.

Owl & Calf #5!

Each year, whale researchers in New England get together for a "naming party" to name new humpback whales (either calves or adults who have come into our area over the past year and not been seen before).  Researchers use three rules in naming whales: 1) the name can't be a human name, 2) the name can't be gender-specific, because often we don't know whether the whale is a male or female yet, 3) the name has to reflect an identifying characteristic on the whale (like with the case of Owl).