Whale Sightings 5/2/22 to 5/6/22. Please find the Naturalist Notes for the weekend of 5/2/22 to 5/6/22 from the onboard team of naturalists for our New England Whale Watching tour in partnership with the New England Aquarium.
5/2/22
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Today the Asteria headed out to Stellwagen Bank in search of wildlife. As we got to the bank, we were surrounded by blows. We were in the midst of humpback whales, sei whales, fin whales, minke whales, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and even a few grey seals! We started with some looks at a group of three humpbacks, who ended up being Waterstrider, followed by Firefly and her new calf. With so many whales to choose from, we saw some travelling fin whales as well. Suddenly, a breach surprised us. It was another humpback calf, accompanied by its mother, a whale named Venom. This calf breached quite a few times, before both mom and calf approached the boat, surrounded by dolphins. It was a remarkable view! With time passing and the whales dispersing, we had to head back to Boston. Truly a great spring day on the water!
Until Next Time!
David & Kate
5/3/22
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
What a sei-tastic day! The 10am whale watched headed out on the Asteria towards the Northwest Corner Stellwagen Bank in search of marine wildlife. We were quickly rewarded by many blows – and found ourselves in the middle of a flurry of feeding sei whales. Surrounding our vessel, we saw at least 12 different sei whales – including one mom and calf pair. This super group of whales were clearly taking advantage of all the food in the water – skim feeding (dragging their open mouth/rostrum through the water) and side-lunging. Surrounded by feeding sei whales, we got some spectacular looks, such as: whales skimming with seaweed caught in their baleen, the eye of the sei-whale as they lunged past the vessel, and flashes of pink – visible on their neck as they expanded their throats to feed. Sei whales are incredibly interesting animals. Despite being one the largest whales on earth, we know relatively little about them. Their calving/mating ground is unknown, and there is only a rough estimation of their population size. Unlike other baleen whale species, sei whales are generalists that are able to
conduct very different ecological feeding techniques (skim feeding and lunge feeding) – which allows them to target a variety of prey species. It was so cool to watch the seis in action and see skim feeding and lunge feeding side-by-side. These whales only frequent our cold coastal waters in the spring, so it was incredible to see so many of these large sei whales feeding!
In the pile of activity, we also saw two humpbacks – one of which was Shuffleboard. Shuffleboard was also feeding – forcefully lunging and blowing bubble nets right in the middle of the sei whales!
What an incredibly unique and cool trip!
Kate and David
5/4/22
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Despite rain and wind, a hearty group of passengers headed out on the Asteria for the 10am whale watch towards the Northwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank. Similar to yesterday, we quickly found ourself in sei-whale soup. Everywhere we looked, there seemed to be a sei whale feeding! Initially most of the seis whales were scattered around our vessel – skim feeding or forward-lunging. Halfway through our trip, there seemed to be a shift of behavior – and the whales began to side lunge in a more concentrated area. In total, we saw 15-20 sei whales – and it was cool to see the quick change of behavior from such a massive group of whales! We had multiple whales feed right next to our vessel, and since the water was so calm, we got great looks at the underside of the whales and flashes of pink from their expanded pleats!
What can I SEI, today was a great day!
Kate and Linnea
05/05/22
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Happy Cinco de Mayo Whale Watchers,
The Asteria headed to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank in search of marine life. We arrived to see an enormous group of Sei Whales skim feeding and side lunging. This group seemed to be feeding in a line that stretched for miles! Further out on that line, we were able to decipher a couple of North Atlantic Right Whales skimming as well. We gave them their required distance of 500 yards and kept our speed under 10 knots, reporting all sightings directly to NOAA. Once clear, we carefully searched for another pocket of Sei Whales. We found one, and these whales did not disappoint! We were treated to some close side lunging and skimming, even spotting a Sei Whale calf in the mix (see 3rd photo!) Scattered about, we also saw a great number of Grey Seals and some feeding Minke Whales in the midst of it all. We got incredible looks at so many species today, before we had to head back to Boston. What an unforgettable morning on the water!
Sin-Sei-rely,
David & Kate
5/6/22
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Today on the Asteria, we headed to the NW corner of Stellwagen in grey glassy seas, with a bit of haze that made the horizon disappear. We first spotted a Sei whale, but then a traveling group of 20-25 grey seals surrounded by 5-10 scattered minke whales quickly stole our attention! It’s fascinating to see such a large group of seals swimming together.
Afterwards we spent time with a resting humpback, also spotting another juvenile humpback and a brief look of fin whale.
On our way home we spotted a few North Atlantic right whales – where we were then treated to a rare sight, a breaching right whale! With only 336 left in their population, and the rarity of seeing surface behavior in general, we truly had a special day seeing lobtailing and two breaches from a right whale named Garlic, matched to the NEAq catalog. All right whale sightings were observed from 500 yards or more away, the vessel stayed under 10 knots, and all sightings were reported to NOAA.
Sincerely,
Laura H. and David
5/6/22
12:00pm Whale Watch Sightings
Today aboard the Aurora, the 12pm whale watch headed out towards the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in search of whales and other marine life. After a little bit of searching, we spotted several blows in the area. We came across a group of feeding sei whales! These individuals were skim feeding and side lunging at the surface! What can I sei, these whales were being fantastic! We also spotted a North Atlantic Right whale in the mix. We slowly moved away from the animal. All right whale sightings were observed from 500 yards or more away, the vessel stayed under 10 knots, and all sightings were reported to NOAA. We then spotted a humpback whale in the distance so we decided to go check out the individual. This individual was blowing bubble clouds and lunging up through them! This individual did it several times right next to the boat! We watched this individual for a good amount of time, and after a beautiful fluking dive we had to head back to Boston. It was a really great day out on the Atlantic!
Flukes ke atas,
Colin and Sydney
More Images From This Weekend
