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Sightings Reports
(note: Images have been thumb-nailed to make loading quicker. Click on
small images to be taken to a larger one)
September 30: Our season is starting to wrap up, but
there's still plenty of whales around. This weekend, we've seen many
fin whales, including a whale and her calf, and one humpback
(Tornado, who has been seen several times this season). We've
also received reports that the blue whale is still in the area,
although it was too far for us to get to (on the eastern edge of
Jeffreys Ledge) over the weekend. We only have a few trips
left, and it's a great time for whale watching!
September 20: Trips have been less regular than
during the summer, but there have been some spectacular ones! Most
recently, we were excited to find a blue whale about 12-13 miles
offshore. The whale has been hanging around the same area for much
of this week, and there have also been some fin whales nearby. This
is only the 3rd time a blue whale has been sighted since 1993 - the
last one was in 2002!
September 8: Today there was lots of variety on the
Ledge. There were numerous sei whales still around and at least one
fin whale (our #0354, who has been seen each year since we first
identified this fin whale in 2003). We were also lucky enough to see
a right whale! Our research coordinator, Dianna Schulte, has
identified this whale as the same whale seen on August 31 and an
adult female who has never had a calf. We had some quick looks at
this whale at a distance. Below is a shot of its huge fluke!
August 31: We have had some rarer sightings over the
past week. There appears to be a large amount of copepods and/or
krill in the area, which has caused a large influx of sei whales,
who feed on these tiny organisms and only come into our area when
conditions are right. Yesterday, there were at least 8-10 of
these large (40-50') baleen whales in one area!! We were also lucky
enough to see a right whale! With less than 400 northern right
whales remaining in the world, we were really lucky to have
this rare sighting. There have also been some very active dolphin
pods in the area.
August 17: The humpbacks appear to have moved
elsewhere, but sightings of fin whales, minkes, harbor seals and
dolphins have been common over the last few days.
August 14: We've had some great trips over the last
week, with many familiar adult humpbacks on southern Jeffreys.
We've had Little Spot, a male born in 1979, Regulus, a 24-year old
male who suffered an entanglement last year (but appears ok this
summer), Newton and Scylla (two females), and our adopt-a-whales,
Pinball and Owl. At one point, Pinball, Little Spot and Owl,
were all traveling together, which was exciting to see!
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Atlantic white-sided dolphins |
Ocean sunfish, or
Mola mola |
Ocean sunfish |
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Regulus, a male humpback |
Tornado, a female humpback |
Scylla, a female humpback |
August 5: Today we saw an old favorite, a humpback
named Regulus. Regulus is a 24-year old male, and the calf of
Spoon, another whale often seen on Jeffreys Ledge. Regulus has had a
tough life lately - he was entangled a couple years ago and has the
scars to prove it. Today he was flipper slapping and rolling over,
giving us some great looks! There was also a fin whale on the Ledge
today, one we've identified as #0354 (our 54th unidentified fin
whale seen in 2003).
Photos of Regulus:
August 1: We had the exciting sighting of a right
whale and her calf today! Our research coordinator, Dianna
Schulte, has identified the mother whale as whale #1620, a whale
first seen in 1986. The calf seen with her today is her fourth
documented calf! With a population hovering around 350-400,
the right whale is one of the most endangered whale species today.
Many right whales spend the summer up in the Bay of Fundy, far from
Jeffreys Ledge, so this truly was a special sighting!
July 26: It's been a very busy season, and we haven't
gotten to put updates here as often as we'd like. There are
still some fin whales and minkes around. We had lots of fin whales,
minkes and Atlantic white-sided dolphins last week, all in the same
area, which was an amazing scene! Fin whales have been scarcer
over the past couple days, but we've still managed to see some here
and there. We're hoping they'll return soon! According to
boats that have ventured down to Stellwagen Bank, that area is
busier, with numerous humpbacks around. Things change quickly around
here, so it will be interesting to see what the next few days
brings. The weather is hot and a boat in the Gulf of Maine is
the best place to be - come join us!!
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Two dolphins come near the boat |
Passengers get a close encounter with
Atlantic white-sided dolphins |
One of our favorite fin whales, "Dingle",
cruises by |
July 16: There have been numerous fin whales and
minkes around lately! We've been lucky enough to see fin
whales lunge-feeding several times over the past week. More
information and photos will be coming soon!
June 27: Report from Dianna
Schulte, our research coordinator:
Today we saw our friend Trigger with a new calf!
While she was busy feeding at depth (we were in over 500 feet of
water), the calf stayed at the surface, relaxing right next to the
boat! We felt like baby-sitters while Mom was away. When Trigger
resurfaced, the calf swam next to her and began to nurse! Finback
whale calves will drink about 50 gallons of milk per day and gain up
to 200 pounds per day during their first 6 months!! Trigger was
first observed by Blue Ocean staff in 2001, when she also had a calf
and has been seen nearly every year since. She is a newly added
Adopt-a-Whale
choice and this year you get 2 for 1- both her and her calf for only
$25! See photos below:
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Trigger and calf
(all photos by D. Schulte) |
Trigger |
Trigger's calf |
June 25: Our research coordinator, Dianna Schulte,
reported today that a humpback named "Photon" and her calf were seen
on Stellwagen Bank during a whale watch/birding trip aboard the
Prince of Whales. Photon is a female who was first sighted in
1997. They also saw a whale we affectionately call "scar
minke", a minke whale with a distinctive scar on its back, on
southern Jeffreys Ledge, and a basking shark!
June 22: The Atlantic Queen, Granite State,
and Prince of Whales were all out today, and we all had
amazing trips! Dianna Schulte from the Prince of Whales
reported seeing a great mom/calf fin whale pair, and the calf even
rolled over under water next to its mom, something we rarely see!
Beth Boucher from the Granite State reported spending time
with two humpbacks, "Flask" (one of our favorites, and an
Adopt-a-Whale)
and "Gondolier". Flask spent time close to the boat,
"spy-hopping", checking things out! The Atlantic Queen
was also with these two whales earlier, and Flask spent quite a bit
of time doing spectacular feeding lunges at the water surface!
During the afternoon, there were thunderstorms in the area, creating
a dramatic background for watching these amazing animals!
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Fin whale & calf
J. Kennedy |
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Gondolier
J. Kennedy |
Flask
J. Kennedy |
Flask
J. Kennedy |
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Flask Spy-hopping
B. Boucher |
Flask lunge-feeding
J. Kennedy |
Flask flukes in the storm
J. Kennedy |
June 12: Sightings have been great lately, with lots
of sightings of all three of our most common baleen whales -
finbacks, humpbacks and minkes! We've seen our
Adopt-a-Creatures Flask, Satula and Comet. Most
exciting is that we've seen Comet with a calf!! The calf has
been very curious, often circling around the whale watch boat while
Comet feeds nearby. Other humpbacks we've seen recently
include Clamp and Crook.
Photos from whale watches on 6/9 & 6/10/07:
Click here for more photos!
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Comet & Calf |
Comet |
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Comet's Calf |
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Satula |
June 6, 2007: Our 2007 research/whale watch season
has started! We have had several finback and minke whales in
our area lately, with sightings of several of our "regular" fin
whales so far, including Fjord (a
whale you can adopt!), #9718 (who was often seen feeding at the
surface last season), and - this just in - possibly Comet, with a
calf! More details on that to follow! Whales have been
fairly close to the harbors, with many recent sightings on Old
Scantum, a small ledge a few miles inshore of Jeffreys Ledge.
While we're not running daily trips yet, we plan to be out today,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week, so we'll report
back on these trips soon!
Click here
for 2006 season sightings
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above. On whale
watches, naturalists and interns collect valuable
research
data, but their main role is education. An experienced naturalist
can make the difference between a good and bad trip!
Prepare
for your trip! Download and print out our field guide below.
