Sunday, June 10, 2007

Whale Sightings up to June 9

Minke Whale

Whale watching season has begun on the Bay of Fundy with Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises. Our first cruise was on June 2. June is still considered a bit early in the season but we still see whales and the most common sighted whale at this time are usually minke whales. It wasn't long into the cruise when we saw a splash in the distance, followed by several more. My heart did a little skip, thinking that maybe we were seeing a humpback but because of the absence of the long pectoral flippers, and the shape of the body, it was quickly determined to be a minke whale, the smallest type of baleen whale in the Bay of Fundy. Sightings of these whales continued up until yesterday. That was when our research boat, the Cetacean Search, did just that, it went on a search to find humpbacks. We did find 4 humpback whales about 18 miles from Brier Island. Everyone on the whale watch boat, Mega Nova, was elated at such a find. We did identify the 4 whales by their flukes. Their names were Peajack, Radar, Haze, and Handstand.
Humpback Whale named "Peajack"

1 comment:

whale fan said...

Thanks for the up-date. We are looking to be therre next weekend - what do you think we will see?