October 22, 2009

The whales on Stellwagen Bank got to experience a touch of winter this past week with cold temperatures and even snow! Some humpback whales have probably started to head south on their migration to their warmer breeding grounds, Silver Banks in the Dominican Republic, but there are still quite a few humpbacks around. Isthmus and calf as well as Tulip and calf have been seen flipper slapping and tail breaching enjoying their remaining time together before they start their migration south when they will separate and the calf will be on its own for the first time. Other whales are trying to rest up and gain the last few pounds before they leave the feeding grounds. Aswan (2000 calf of Nile), IT (2002 calf of Bullet), Geometry (1997 calf of Star), 2-3 White Spot (first seen in 1979), and Colt (adopt this whale) have been seen mostly traveling and logging at the surface.

We have seen some minke whales, but we haven't seen many finback whales. Harbor porpoise have moved into the area, and we have also seen some harbor seals and grey seals close to shore. We expect some of the whales to stick around for awhile longer and, depending on the weather, whale watching boats will still be heading out to Stellwagen Bank until late November.

As things start to slow down on Stellwagen Bank, Jeffreys Ledge (a feeding ground north of Cape Ann, MA) is the place to be! Every fall we head up to Jeffreys Ledge to do our biweekly boat-based right whale surveys. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered of the large whale species, and in the past few years we have learned that Jeffreys is an important fall habitat for this species. We headed up there yesterday on our research boat to do a preliminary survey to see what species were in the area. We found three humpback whales (Nine, Tornado (adopt this whale), and one still to be matched), a few Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and 16-25 right whales! It was a great start to the season and with a population of only 400 or so animals, seeing that many in one area is amazing!

We saw a few single animals that appeared to be feeding deep in the water column and 3-4 surface active groups (aka SAGs). SAGs are when 2 or more animals are seen at the surface rolling around and making a lot of body contact. It is the combination of males competing with each other to mate with the female as well as when the mating occurs. We know mating does not always occur during a SAG, sometimes it appears to be males practicing. Either way it is a very dramatic activity to watch and it is always interesting to see these whales interacting with each other. After that we ended the trip with a mother and calf pair! It is always a great thing to see one of the newest members of the population, especially for such an endangered species like the right whale. And just as a reminder, if you do see a right whale, it is illegal to approach the whale and you must stay 500 yards away. Also, if you see one, drive slowly through the area, if there is one there might be another one. They are hard to see since they do not have a dorsal fin, but they usually have a distinctive V-shaped blow. We'll be starting a blog with updates about the surveys this fall, so tune in to the blog or our twitter page to hear more exciting news about these whales!

September 23, 2009

The cool end of summer weather has brought some beautiful days out on the water with fantastic visibility. Unfortunately it has also brought some windy, rough weather as well. It looks like the whales have moved back onto the northern part of Stellwagen Bank, and we have been able to see all sorts of behaviors like deep feeding, bubble cloud, kick feeding, breaching, logging, close to boat activity, and even some 'rowdy group' like behavior. Many mom and calf pairs moved out of the area for a week or so, and it seemed like a lot of adult males moved in to feast on the sandlance.

Ember (adopt this whale), Colt (adopt this whale), Coral (adopt this whale), Ampersand, Fracture, and Thread were seen kickfeeding along with Buckshot (Ampersand's mom), Molson, and Pinpoint. Nile and calf, Lavalier and calf, Blackhole and calf, Vulture and calf, and Abrasion and calf moved back into the area this past week or so. Echo and Pumba have been deep feeding side by side for almost the past month. And we got a nice surprise yesterday when we saw Bilbo for the first time since April! It was great to see this huge whale back in the area and she was doing what she does best - logging (resting)! She had two whales to keep her company, Pixar and Snare (a two year old that looked tiny next to Bilbo). On a little bit of a worrisome note, we have spotted both Fern and Photon without their calves. They have been quick sightings of the adults, but we are sure the Fern no longer has a calf by her side. We are hoping that Fern's little girl is just very independent and has left home a little early, but a separation this early in the year is quite rare. We'll keep a look out for her and hope that she returns to Stellwagen safe and sound next spring.

As for other marine mammals, there have been many minke whales all around, but not as many finback whales. A few pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins (see image above) have made their way onto the bank and Mola mola (see top image), or ocean sunfish, have finally arrived. On some days we have been able to spot up to 2 or 3 of them in different areas on the Bank.

August 27, 2009

Interesting several weeks off the shores of Massachusetts, with whales moving around to many areas. Stellwagen Bank has been a little quieter than in some other years, although it is still a preferred habitat for humpback whale mothers and calves and juveniles. Most of the whales have been on the southern half of the Bank, with occasional forays to the North. In the past few days, we have seen a number of juvenile whales and some mother-calf pairs move to the deep water to the west of the bank and start plankton feeding, a fall phenomenon that we have seen annually since 2000. Mothers seen on Stellwagen include Abrasion, Follicle, Fulcrum, Mars, Lavalier, and Nile; other whales seen include Bounce, Buckle, Cardhu (adopt this whale), Condensation, Greenbean, Mayo, Pixar, Tracer, Salt, Seal, Venom, and Whisk, among many others.

Meanwhile, Jeffreys Ledge, a habitat to the North of Cape Ann, has also been heating up. For the past few years this area has been relatively quiet. However, new restrictions limiting the fishery effort on the main prey source of the area (herring) were enacted less than two years ago, and it appears to be having a positive effect. We spent a week in the area on our dtag cruise, and have taken several of both research cruises and some public whale watches to this habitat. For a while, there were close to 30 humpbacks feeding on small herring on Jeffreys. Some of these were whales that specialize in herring as a prey source and Jeffreys as a habitat, and are rarely seen on Stellwagen. Some of these whales included Chromosome, Flask, Freckles, Mudskipper, Skua, Solas, and Tripod. However, it is also clear that some of the Stellwagen whales had moved up to Jeffreys, and the familiar flukes of Colt (adopt this whale), Filament, Scylla, Sword, Tornado, and Trident, (adopt this whale) among others, were seen on Jeffreys. In some cases whales were moving back and forth between the areas in a matter of mere days. Herring is a harder fish to catch than the sand lance that whales typically feed on while on Stellwagen, and it is an especially tough prey source for young whales and calves. Hence, calf sightings are less frequent than on Stellwagen. Still, both Clipper and Basmati brought their calves to the Ledge for over a week. Basmati is the 1998 calf of Isthmus, herself the 1986 calf of Sting Ray; hence Sting Ray joins our exclusive club of known "great-grandmother" whales.

Meanwhile, offshore habitats are also the home to many whales. With the cooperation of (and thanks to) the Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, we were able to send staff scientist Laura Ganley to the Great South Channel for two days in mid-August. Laura reports that several mother-calf pairs were seen; moms include Calderas, Duo, Quercas, and Thalassa - all females that have yet to be seen in our more regular areas yet this year. Laura also reports lots of other adult whales in the area, some of whom she is still working on matching. However, it was also clear that there was some exchange between Stellwagen and the Channel - some animals seen on Stellwagen only a few days before the cruise were seen again in the Channel.

August 2, 2009

We had a special chance to spend some time on Jeffreys Ledge (a feeding ground north of Cape Ann) last week and we were quite surprised to find some of our adopt-a-whales and other whales more commonly found on Stellwagen Bank down east on Jeffreys. Some of the Whale Center staff has been on a two week research trip using digital tags (e.g., this video) to get a better idea of what the whales are doing while they are below the surface and this year they split their time between Stellwagen and Jeffreys Ledge (we will post a separate update on that trip but in the mean time you can read this article about it. Jeffreys Ledge is known to be a great area to see fin whales and there were a ton of them up there! It was amazing to see large groups (5-6) of these huge animals traveling and lunging together! On Stellwagen it has been rare to see more then 3 fin whales traveling together, so it was very special for us to be able to see this different behavior.

In addition to the fin whales there were also a lot of humpback whales. It was a great mix of whales I haven't seen before with some of the whales that we usually get to see on Stellwagen. Valley (first seen in 1985), Raccoon (first seen in 1985), Diablo (Five-J 1983 calf), Sword (Janus 1984 calf), Filament (Batik 1989 calf), Glo-stick (Scylla 1997 calf), Scylla (Istar 1981 calf), Tigris (Istar 1984 calf), Trident (adopt this whale; Snake Eyes 1982 calf), and Tornado (adopt this whale; Fringe 1988 calf), who has been absent from Stellwagen for the past month. All were bubble cloud feeding on juvenile herring, except for Filament who was one of two whales kick feeding (a rare behavior to see on Jeffreys). Other whales that we don't usually get to see down here were Upsilon (first seen in 1980), Flask (first seen in 1981), Quote (first seen in 1984), Milkyway (first seen in 1986), Chromosome (first seen in 1991), Tripod (Molson 1992 calf), Mudskipper (Buckshot 1997 calf), and Solas (Nine 2001 calf) to name a few. It was great too see all of these whales using different methods of feeding to catch the tiny herring.

Even though there are a lot of whales on Jeffreys Ledge there are still plenty of whales on Stellwagen Bank. Tunguska (Leukos 1997 calf) spent about 30 minutes breaching and flipper slapping near one boat. Another day, Etch-a-sketch (Thalassa 1998 calf) was kick feeding while Grackle (Zeppelin 1997 calf), Fracture (first seen in 1990), Division (Stingray 1991 calf), and Barb (Tiger 1987 calf) were slowly traveling around. Venom (Cardhu 1996 calf) and Tongs (first seen in 1989) were taking a break while resting at the surface which allowed some whale watchers to see their whole body beneath the surface since the water was glass calm. As the weather gets hotter on land there is no better way to cool off then a ride on the ocean to see some whales!

July 15, 2009

WOW!!! What can I say? The whales are flooding onto Southern Stellwagen Bank! The weather has finally gotten nice up here and the whales are feasting! We've had great sightings all week and it seems new whales keep on showing up. On our research trip last Friday we found Tornado, Milkweed, Pele, and Bolide and her calf deep feeding together. At the same time, Nile and calf, Freefall, Perseid, and an unknown humpback whale were deep feeding only a few yards from the other group. Alphorn, Firefly, Mayo and Northstar were also in the area traveling around. Further to the east, we found Tracer, Doric, Fern and calf, Pixar, and a few others kickfeeding. It appeared that a lot of the whales we usually have on the Northwest corner of Stellwagen had moved to the south, which means that the northern half of the bank is quite barren. We found Coral (adopt this whale) traveling on Friday morning, Trident late Friday morning, and Tongs on Friday afternoon. Etch-a-sketch made a pass at the corner this weekend and Cajun was charging through the area Tuesday morning.

During some rough seas this weekend, most whale watchers got to see a lot of breaching and flipper slapping! Once Monday rolled around the feeding began again, but this time instead of deep feeding the whales were kick feeding and lunge feeding! Each day has brought new whales into the area, a lot of them seem to be visitors that we don't see too often here on Stellwagen. It could be that some of these whales are coming up from the Great South Channel (another feeding ground east of Cape Cod). Here is a list of some of the whales identified so far, but we still have a lot of matching to do! Rocker, Iota, Follicle and calf, Sundown, Pinpoint, Anvil and calf, Stump, Pinpoint, Lavalier and calf, Jabiru, Splice, Etch-a-sketch, Cajun, Tracer, Simian, Ghost, Fracture, Filament, Pogo, Putter, Sundog, Plateau, Sirius, Terrace, Parens, and Phantom.

Not only were there humpbacks feeding, but there were also a ton of fin whales lunging all around! It is always an amazing day when you can look all around the boat and see whales feeding all the way to the horizon! Even though it is taking the boats a little longer to get to the whales, it is well worth the ride to see these amazing animals!

July 3, 2009

We left the dock in thick fog, which has been the norm on Stellwagen Bank for the last few weeks and has made us really have to work to find the whales. As we got to the bank we began to notice loads of sand lance at the surface. The humpback whales on Stellwagen Bank spend most of their time eating this small fish which is only about the size of a pencil. Since Stellwagen is their feeding grounds we can attribute our sightings of whales on a day to day, week to week, month to month, and even year to year basis on the amount of fish in the area. If there is no fish the whales don't want to be here and move on to another feeding ground. As we continued to search in the fog we became more and more excited about the amount of sandlance at the surface, we knew at some point our efforts would be rewarded. Then as the fog broke a little we could see feeding whales in every direction!

Some of the id's included Lavalier (first seen in 1999) and her second calf, Pinpoint (2004 calf of Horizon), Kohoutek (first seen in 1978), Whisk (1987 calf of Purity), Pele (first seen in 1997), and Firefly (first seen in 1990). Lavalier's calf was even seen trying to lunge through some sandlance aggregations. We got great looks of Whisk and Pele feeding together. It was amazing to see the sandlance start to jump in one particular area knowing that Pele and Whisk would be lunging through them momentarily, we even got a treat and saw both of them belly up with completely expanded pleats. There were four fin whales in the area, as well as a bunch of minke whales. We left the bank feeling very satisfied as we continued on our foggy trip back to Gloucester.

June 15, 2009

We just completed an exciting weekend with whales. The middle part of last week was a bit worrisome – weather was questionable, and whales were few and far between for several days. As we set out on Friday afternoon, we heard reports that one of the party fishing boats had been seeing a few feeding whales each morning in an area where whale watch boats don’t usually go. Since other boats hadn’t seen much that day, we decided to take a chance. As we got to the area, bird life picked up, indicating prey was around, but we weren’t seeing any whales. Finally, as we were just about to turn around, we saw a spout in the distance. That became two spouts, which became four… and soon we were among 20-30 feeding whales. Most notable was a single group of between 6-12 animals (it changed frequently during the day) feeding together in a single bubble net. The whales in the group were all large adults, some of whom we had not seen in the year, others seen only rarely. The group included Ebony, Alpha, Venom, Pipette, and Grackle, among many others. Nearby Pogo and Fracture were bubble netting on their own; twice they were “steam-rollered” by the big group as they rushed around looking for prey! It was pretty dramatic seeing 6-7 open mouths coming up at once.

The next day those whales were all gone, but we did find a number of whales feeding in more traditional areas. Over the weekend mother-calf pairs were the rule – sightings included Follicle, Ase, Nile, Anvil, Ganesh, and Reflection, all with calves. Perhaps most notable, though, was the first sighting of the year of Zeppelin, (adopt this whale) with her fifth calf. Zeppelin was born in 1989, the calf of Milky Way, and was one of our most sighted whales throughout the 1990’s. She has been having calves on a regular basis since she gave birth to her first in 2000. She has a tendency to use other habitats than Stellwagen Bank in some years, so we are always happy to see her come back!

While mother-calf pairs were abundant on the weekend, perhaps the most notable whale around was the 2008 calf of Scylla. Surprisingly large for a 1-year old whale, this animal put on a prolonged display of flipper slapping, lobtailing, and breaching on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, we saw her clearly learning how to use bubbles and feed, as she was engaging in all of her activities only a few feet below the surface, as opposed to the 60-100 foot depth that most animals use.


June 8, 2009

The whales are still moving all around the bank and making us work hard to find them. It might take us a little longer to get to them, but once we do we have had great trips! On a few occasions we have been surrounded by 20-30 feeding humpbacks. Kick feeding, bubble cloud feeding, and lunge feeding as far as the eye can see. Music spent some time blowing bubbles around our research boat, while Broomball swam back and forth under one of the whale watching boats. The calves have also been very active. Blackhole's calf breached for 15 minutes one day and Lavalier's calf breached and flipper slapped as Lavalier kick fed.

Unfortunately, there are also a few entangled whales on Stellwagen Bank. Last week two entangled humpbacks were found and two more were found this past weekend. All of these whales were seen with line (or rope; see image) around their body or flukes and three of them had buoys still attached to the line. There is a disentanglement team from the Center for Coastal Studies that is trained to remove the gear from the whales, but in all of these cases the whale was lost before the team could get to it and could not be relocated that day. We are hoping that with so many whales in the area that some of these entangled whales will stay here long enough to be sighted again and hopefully the team will get a chance to try and remove that gear.

If you happen to be a boater and think you see an entangled whale, then please call the coast guard with its description and location and they will relay the information to the disentanglement team. DO NOT approach the whale, as you can imagine it is already stressed by having the gear on it and any close vessel could compromise the health of the whale even more. DO NOT try and remove any of the gear, you could make the entanglement worse or make it harder for the team to remove the gear (gear trailing behind the animal is helpful for the entanglement team to work with). You should take photos of the whale and the gear just in case the team does not relocate the whale. To learn more about the process and what you can do to help you can go to this website.

In addition to the whales, we have been seeing a lot of other marine species on Stellwagen Bank. There has been a ton of bait fish on the bank with gulls and juvenile gannets chasing them. Other pelagic species of birds, including storm petrels and shearwaters are just starting to return to Stellwagen. Yesterday, one of the whale watching boats got a close up look at one of the first basking sharks (see image) to return to the area this summer!

So it seems with the return of summer Stellwagen Bank is the place to be! We hope you join us out there on one of the whale watches or on one of our research trips the Mysticete!


May 25, 2009

We hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day Weekend on and off the water! We had great sightings on the corner and mid-bank as the whales continue to arrive on the feeding grounds. Nile made her first appearance this weekend and we were glad to see a calf by her side. We found Ase with her new calf as well as Fern! Bounce (Fern's 2007 calf) was also seen trying to feed on her own close to Fern and her new calf. Draco (Trident’s calf) and Entropy have returned this year, as well as Bilbo! Feeding was main priority with the whales this weekend. Ton of kickfeeding and lunging all over the place! Vulture, Molson and Reflection were feeding together. Blackhole's calf spent some time checking out one of the whale watching boats while Blackhole was busy feeding as well. Looks like May is ending with a bang and hopefully June will be just as good!


May 12, 2009

The whales are back in good numbers and moving all around the bank! Some of our old favorites moved on to the Northwest corner and have been seen kick feeding and bubble cloud feeding. Cardhu (adopt this whale), Compass (first seen '82), Etch-a-sketch (Thalassa '98 calf), Hancock (Clipper ’91 calf), and Wizard (Petrel '90 calf) are some of the large females that have been spending most of their time eating on the corner. Follicle (first seen '98) and calf and Fulcrum (Chimney's '97 calf) and calf have also been see a lot on the corner. Those two calves are very curious and whale watchers have had the pleasure to see them breach, roll around, and flipper slap close to the boats. Southern Stellwagen Bank has also been filled with feeding whales. Some lucky whale watching boats have been surrounded by miles of kick feeding whales totally 30-40 humpbacks with fin whales and minke whales also mixed in. There have been a lot of mother and calf pairs down there including Mars (first seen in '79) and calf, Reflection (first seen in '92) and calf, Palette (Compass’s '89 calf) and calf, Photon (first seen '97) and calf, and Isthmus (Stingray's '86 calf) and calf!! The mothers have been kick feeding while the calves circle their moms hopefully learning a few techniques.

On a side note, during one of our recent research whale watch trips on the Mysticete we were reminded about how much trash actually ends up on the water. We were only out on the water for a few hours but in that time we picked up over 30 balloons, some plastic bags and a plastic lid. The balloon ranged from birthdays, to get well soon, to graduations to baby shower balloons. Plastics is a big danger to marine life, especially balloons which end up looking like jellyfish for sea turtles. The balloons and the ribbon attached to them can reek havoc on the stomachs and intestines of animals large and small. We can easily forget how a little action can add up to such a large problem. With graduations coming up and summer fun right around the corner please remember to pop the balloons and dispose of them properly so the wind doesn't bring them close to the curious calves and sea turtles.

April 2009

The 2009 whale season has gotten off to a great, and very early start. We were flabbergasted when we started to get reports in early March of large numbers of humpback whales feeding on Stellwagen Bank, which is far earlier than we had heard of in previous years. The reports were corroborated by several captains, and were confirmed when researchers from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies saw almost 30 humpback whales feeding west of the bank in mid-March, reporting many familiar animals including Salt, Cardhu, (adopt this whale) and other big females.

We got our start on April 1, when the insurance rider allows our 42 foot long research vessel, Mysticete, to operate. On our first day out there we were greeted with almost 30 feeding whales, a mixture of big adult females, many of whom had calves last year (including Giraffe, Dome, Zebra, Nimbus, and Wizard) and a number of juvenile humpbacks. Perhaps most notable was a sighting of Python, born in 1986, who we had not seen since 1992!

While weather kept us in for almost a week after that, the whales didn't go anywhere - on our next day out, we had over 50 humpback whales! There were lots of one and two year old juveniles who we didn't recognize, and well over 20 adults, including Zebra, Giraffe and Dome again, but also familiar regulars like Tornado, Pepper, Whisk, Pogo, Loon, and many others.

Since then, things have been a bit quieter on our end of the bank, although we have reports the whales have just moved a bit to the south. Humpbacks have still been seen regularly - just yesterday we saw Etch-a-Sketch, Pepper, Cajun, Loon, Nimbus, and Geometry - but we haven't been seeing the huge numbers we had earlier on. They can come back anytime, though!

We have also started to see mother-calf pairs. Typically, mothers and calves are the last class of whales to complete the 1,500 mile journey back from the winter grounds of the Caribbean. Our first two mothers this year were seen still with their calves from last year - both Echo and Division were seen with their 2008 calves in early April. Usually calves wean by the time they return from the migration after their calf year - and we have already seen a number of last year's calves back on their own. Every so often a calf will stay with its mother for a full second year, however. Whether these two yearlings will do that, or wean in the next few months, remains to be seen. However, we have also now started to see 2009 calves, tiny whales staying close to their mom.

Some of our early sightings of whales with calves this year include Blackhole (her second recorded calf), Follicle (her first recorded calf ever!), Lavalier, Photon, and Fern. Other researchers and naturalists have reported several others, including Abrasion (her first since she was born in 1997, calf of Right Bar), Reflection, and numerous others. To have almost 10 calves by the end of April is also almost unheard of, and an encouraging sign for another bumper crop of calves.

So we enter May after a great start to what will hopefully be a wonderful year of whale watching and whale research!