Sightings to July 11th

The Bay of Fundy is working its magic. Not only has the fog disappeared but some humpback whales have moved a little bit closer to Brier Island which makes for some fantastic whale watching. Fog did not get the best of us though, as we have had some good sightings. Two days ago, we located one of our adopt a whales, Rooftop with her third calf! Other adopt a whales have been sighted as well are Flash who was seen on July 10 and Shuttle (Shown at left) who

was sighted today, July 11. Other individuals

that have been identified are Parrot, Istar,

Puppet, Highlighter (at right) , Gremlin, Sauron,

and Willow. This makes our total identified humpback whale count at 34 for the 2008 season.

Bird sightings have been of Greater Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, Northern Fulmars, Northern Gannets, Wilson's Storm Petrels and a few Red Necked Phalaropes have arrived.

The foggy days of summer!

Fin whales

Whale watching has been great even with the ominous fog that seems to be lurking over our island. You may think that you wouldn't see anything in its blanket but thanks to our honed hearing skills, we are ever so tuned to the sound of their blows in the fog! We locate the whales usually by their spouts but due to reduced visibilty we listen for the sound instead. We have mostly been seeing minke whales but lately we have also been sighting fin whales as well. Fin whales are the largest type of baleen whales that come to the Bay of Fundy. They can be up to 80 feet in length and weigh about 70 tons.

The humpbacks are still about 15-18 miles away but there has been singles sighted close to the island. On June 26, we made a survey cruise to that area and documented 17+ humpback whales. We recorded two mother and calf pairs. The moms were identified as Mets and Spar.

And the winner is.....

Every year we wait with bated breath as to the arrival of the humpback whales and who the first identified whale will be. Humpback whales are individually identified by the black and white pigmentation patterns on the underside of the tail. No two are the same, much like our own fingernails. Even though we did sight a mother and calf pair previously, her identity remains unknown. On June 14, we travelled 15 miles northwest of Brier Island to an area called the Prong and spotted 3 humpback whales in that area. The first identified humpback for 2008 was none other than Mr. Burns! This adult male was first sighted near Brier Island in 1995 and has been seen here every year since. He was born in 1988 to Petrel. Mr. Burns also has the distinction of being one of the whales that you can adopt in our adopt a whale program, supporting the research that we conduct annually.

Mr Burns and Clutter, two humpback whales sighted on June 14.

The first week of whale watching

Welcome to the 2008 season of whale watching. Our first cruise of the season was on June 1 and like most beginnings our sightings have been mostly of minke whales. Minke whales are the smallest type of baleen whale that we see here in the Bay of Fundy. They measure 15-30 feet in length and weigh about 10 tons. So far the minkes that we have seen have been very curious of the boat much to the delight of our passengers!

On June 6, we sighted our first humpback and it was a mother and calf pair! Humpback calves are born in the Caribbean and are brought here by their mothers to feed in the nutrient rich waters of the Bay of Fundy. We haven't been able to identify the mother yet by the underside of the tail but we will definitely keep you posted as to who was our first humpback of the season!

Humpback mother and calf!

High tide - Low Tide

The Bay of Fundy boasts the highest tides in the world and it is these tides that make the Bay of Fundy one of the best areas in the world for whale watching because of the water rushing over ledges which creates upwellings that bring nutrients to the surface. These nutrients in turn feed larger plankton, whci is food for small schooling fish and all of that is food for the whales, dolphins, porpoises and seabirds.

In the many fishing village that are on the Bay of Fundy, it is not uncommon to see the boats high and dry at low tide but not to worry, the tide always comes back up.....in about 6 hours and thirteen minutes!

Our whale watching boat "Mega Nova" at low tide and high tide. At Brier Island the difference between high and low tides is 16 to 20 feet.

Just What does the boat do in the off Season?

Mega Nova on "dumping day"

That's a question that we get throughout the summer. The Mega Nova was built in 2002 with a dual purpose in mind. As we all know, it carries passengers in the summer season but from the end of November to May 31, it participates in the District 34 Lobster Fishery. The company's owner, Harold Graham is Captain, with a crew compliment of 2. At the beginning of the season when the catch is most plentiful, he has extra men onboard to help with the various tasks, such as banding the lobsters.

Landing traps. Taking lobsters out and rebaiting.

Kirk Peters banding the catch

Holiday Gift Ideas

Are you wondering what to give that special someone for a gift. Why not consider adopting a humpback whale? The recipient will receive a framable certificate, a biography, sighting history of "their" whale as well as fact sheets and our annual newsletter for 5 years. The cost is $25 and is directly applied to our research efforts. More information on our program can be found at
http://www.brierislandwhalewatch.com/adoption.htm

One of our adoptables, Foggy.

Another gift idea is a gift certifcate for whale watching.

For any information on these ideas please call 1-800-656-3660. (Toll free USA and Canada)