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Naturalist Notebook 23 June to 29 June
June 23rd was bright and clear and we headed east of Stellwagen Bank to an area known as “The Triangle.” This area is a frequent hotspot for humpback whale activity, and sure enough, we encountered several of them, including Thread, Sirius, and
This week, our interns began their summer stint on the Dolphin Fleet. Two of our interns, Daniel Alberto Veras Mena, and Peter Sanchez Calderon are visiting from the Dominican Republic, where they are studying ecology related to Santuario de Mamíferos Marinos de la República Dominicana (SMMRD—Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic). This is an area significant to our study of humpbacks in the
The Marine Mammals Sanctuary of the
East of Stellwagen Bank, on June 24th, dozens of whales congregated to take advantage of the schools of sand lance that had converged on the area. Humpbacks like Anvil, Tear, Tongs, and Apostrophe were kickfeeding, using their strong, muscular tails to stun schools of fish before lunging through them. Meanwhile, Sloop, another humpback, used another feeding strategy to corral fish. Using her chin, she would slap the front, ventral side of her body on the water and then lunge through the resulting bubble cloud.
Though humpback whale feeding behaviors tend to be obvious, occurring at the surface, it is less common to see obvious finback whale feeding behaviors. Today was an exception. On our afternoon trip, passengers on the Dolphin VIII encountered finback whales feeding with such force that they created a wall of sea foam and spray as they lunged through schools of sand lance. Look closely at the photos below and see if you can spot the sand lance leaping as the finback whales lunge through the school of fish.
Unlike humpback whales, finback whales will roll 90 degrees to either side as they lunge through pockets of prey. The suggested reason for this feeding behavior has to do with the shape and the size of the whale’s mouth as well as the distribution of the prey in the water column. As the finback whale rolls to its side, it is able to maximize the amount of fish engulfed with each mouthful, as it is able to capture the fish that may be slightly lower in the water column.
The morning of June 25th was an unusual one, in that Dolphin Fleet whale watchers were treated to a high number of tail breaches from some of our humpback whales. During a single trip, we observed Whisk,
For unknown reasons, we sometimes tend to see more breaching during windy weather and rougher seas. Perseid’s calf was observed breaching, or completely jumping out of the water, repeatedly. Some scientists have suggested that perhaps the increased incidence of breaching during stormy seas has to do with the whales having to expend more energy to move through the water or to come out of the water to breathe. In the photo below, notice how Perseid’s calf lunges speedily through the water. This is what we call a “wind-up”, or an accelerated dive which precedes a breach.
June 26th was an exciting day as we were able to visit some of the longest-returning humpbacks to Stellwagen Bank. Most exciting of all was a sighting of a female humpback named Salt, who was traveling with another female named Cardhu. Salt was the first
The evening trip ended on a high note with as a whale named Banyon repeatedly breached for passengers aboard the Dolphin VII.
Banyon
The next morning, on June 27th, Banyon, apparently worn-out from the exciting behavior of the previous night, remained nearly motionless at the surface with another unidentified humpback. Because whales are voluntary breathers, they don’t sleep the way other mammals do. Because dolphins in captivity are known to sleep with half of their brains at a time, resting one hemisphere while using the other to regulate respiratory activity, scientists have suggested that perhaps this translates to whales in the wild. Humpback whales are sometimes, particularly after large bouts of feeding or other high-energy activities, observed in a behavior called logging, where they rest nearly motionless at the surface, only moving slightly to breathe every so often.
After heading north to find more active whales, we came across Trident, a female whale born in 1993, feeding at the surface. Look closely in the picture below and it is possible to see the baleen plates hanging down from Trident’s upper jaw. Baleen is made of plates of keratin, which is the same protein in your hair and fingernails. Baleen plates are embedded in the upper jaw of thirteen species of whale, situated in their mouths instead of their upper teeth. Baleen whales lack teeth entirely. Instead, as these 600 to 800 plates of baleen hang parallel to one another in a whale’s mouth, they help the whale separate food from seawater. Humpback whales, for instance, engulf enormous volumes of food and water, the latter of which they push back out into the ocean by way of the narrow gaps between each pair of baleen plates. Meanwhile, their prey becomes trapped in the bristly surface of the baleen, which forms a thick mat.
Later in the day, we were surprised to see Banyon at it again, breaching again and again. After a morning of rest, Banyon was ready to resume the activities of the previous evening!
On June 28th whale watchers had several fascinating experiences involving humpback whale calves. First, as we encountered
Later, passengers on the Dolphin VII were treated to a close boat approach from Rune’s calf. Having spent much of their lives in the proximity of whale watch boats, humpback whales do not seem to be concerned about our presence, and often, they will bring their curious calves over to the side of stationary whale watch boats. While around whales, we turn off our propellers, but keep our generator running. This allows the whales, who are very acoustically oriented, to know exactly where we are when we are near them, and often they will want to investigate the source of the sound.
On June 29th, we were especially excited to see three humpbacks, Barb, Pipette, and Division, all breaching together. The groups that humpback whales form tend to be small and unstable, meaning that associations between humpback whales don’t tend to last more than a few hours or so, though exceptions have been observed. As expected, however, Pipette was sighted later in the day in the absence of Barb and Division.
One notable change to our environment this week has been the shifting of the Boston Shipping Lanes. As Stellwagen Bank is a multi-use sanctuary, it is not uncommon to see merchant ships, tankers, and other large vessels traversing the sanctuary. However, in response to data on whale population densities, this shipping lane was shifted to the north in hopes of reducing whale mortalities as a result of ship strikes. Complete article
Additional photos of whales mentioned in this week's Naturalist Notebook