Whales in the Bay of Fundy Fog

OK, so where did all this fog come from? But not to worry, whales are still being sighted. It's always a bit intriguing to go whale watching in the fog. Usually on a clear day, we are looking for the spouts of the whales which can be seen a few miles away but on a day where the visibility is diminished, we have to rely on our ears to locate the whales. We go to the areas where the whales had been sighted on previous occasions, and shut down the engine and listen for the exhalation of the whales. Once heard, we then head in the direction from which is was heard and shut down again. This continues until we locate the whales. Though fog does make it more challenging, it is usually successful. Yesterday, we had thick, thick fog and we were able to watch 7 different humpback whales. The first two were adult females, who we identified as Lace and Touchdown. After watching Touchdown roll and flipper slap, we then watched 3 others who we identified as Churchill, Cloud, and Luna. Cloud has the distinction of being the oldest whale of known age. He was born in 1977 to Istar, who is now a Gulf of Maine grandmother! The last two whales we watched were Flash and her calf. So despite the fog, it turned out to be a very successful day!

Another calf arrives in the Bay of Fundy

On July 10, Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises welcomed another mother and her calf to the Bay of Fundy. The mother was identified as Squiggle, an individual we have been sighting in the Bay since 1990. The arrival of Squiggle and her calf brings our total up to eleven, much better than our calf count in 2006 which was three! Usually in a season we average 4-5 calves but in later years we have seen that average increase as we are covering a broader range.

The calf swam beside its mother but entertained us in the meantime by rolling and tail lobbing (slapping the surface of the water). We obtained excellent photos of the calf's fluke print and dorsal fin so that we will recognize it when it returns to the Bay of Fundy.

On July 14, we were pleased to see a North Atlantic Right Whale move into the Bay. This species is critically endangered with only approximately 350 remaining in the world! The Grand Manan Basin in Bay of Fundy is a summer feeding ground for the majority of this population. Another popular feeeding area for them is at Roseway Basin, off Nova Scotia's South Shore.

Birth Announcement

Foggy is one of the new mothers that have been sighted in the Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy has become a bit of a nursery as of late with the arrival of ten humpback mothers with their calves. The moms that have been identified are Foggy, Flash, Colorado, Mirage, Umbra, Eclipse and Teo. There were three whales that we have not been able to identify. Foggy is special to researchers at Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises as we watched her grow to adulthood since she was brought here as a calf by her mother whose name was Bermuda. This calf is the third born to Foggy; her first, Sparkler, was born in 2000 and her second, Motley, was born in 2003. Her 2007 calf will not be named until it makes its return to the Gulf of Maine after it leaves its mother.

Humpback whale calves are born in the Caribbean after a 12 month gestation. They drink about 50 gallons of milk from their mother, gaining several hundred pounds per week. They stay with their moms for about a year after they have been weaned at the Northern feeding grounds.

There has been plenty of other activity as well. We have seen the humpbacks move in a bit closer to Brier Island. On one occasion, which was a research cruise, we watched as 4 adult humpback whales surface fed on herring. They would blow a column of bubbles and lunge through it with their mouths agape, taking in several hundred pounds of fish with each gulp. Humpbacks are baleen whales and use those to filter the food out from the water, much like a sieve.

There were also some curious whales, such as Orion, who approached us and spy hopped next to the boat as if he was doing the watching! It is times like this that we wonder who is watching who?

Humpback whale named Orion spyhopping next to our whale watch boat.

Sightings up to June 25

Hello Everyone! It has been so busy on the Bay of Fundy that I can seem to get the chance to sit down and keep you informed as to what has been seen on our whale watching cruises! Which in a way is a good thing! Our cruises have been departing daily at 130pm. Each cruise has been a bit longer than usual as we have to travel a bit further offshore. No one seems to mind the travel time saying that once we get there, the sightings have been terrific. We have been going to an area called the Prong, a shallower area located about 18 miles northwest of Brier Island. The herring and other small schooling fish has been ample there, attracting large numbers of whales and seabirds. Of particular note is that we documented 5 mother and calf pairs in one day! We were only able to identify 2 of them; Colorado (Her first calf ever!) and Mirage.

Because the herring has been plentiful we have seen some activity by the whales as well. On one occasion, Three Dots, an adult female, entertained us by tail breaching and tail lobbing. It is thought that this may be a feeding strategy to concentrate the herring into tighter schools so that they can get more food at one time.

Three Dots tail lobbing!

There have also been a lot of birds in that area as well, including: Puffins, Greater Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, Common Murres, Razorbills and Northern Fulmars.

Wilson's Storm Petrels

Sightings June 14, 15 and 16

A humpback whale named "Scream"

Sightings have been excellent the last couple of days with Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises. On June 14, the Mega Nova set out on its regular whale watch cruise and headed toward the "rip", a shallower area where the Bay of Fundy tide is upwelled by ledges creating a soup of food for whales and seabirds. It wasn't long until we spotted the first spout, the whales's breath that resembles a plume of smoke rising from the surface of the water. We were able to approach the whales so that we could get a better look at them, however, they weren't going for deep dives so we couldn't see the underside of their tail to identify them. Because of those sightings we decided to go on a research cruise the next day to get identifying photographs and data on the humpback whales that were sighted. We saw the same whales as the previous day and were able to identify them as Luna, Orion, Flame, Magpie and Parrot. Other individuals that we documented that day were Maelstrom, Scream, Willow, Waterspout, Rope and Python. We recorded 17 humpback whales so there were some that remain to be identified.

The highlight of the cruise was when Scream, Willow, and Maelstrom approached the boat closely in curious behaviour.

On June 16, the fog shut in on the Bay of Fundy but that didn't deter us from whale watching. The only factor that dos is if there is a lot of wind. We returned to the same area and were able to locate three humpback whales by shutting down the engines and listening for their breath as they surfaced. Everyone was amazed just how quickly we could locate them using this method.

All in all, it has been a good week and the best is yet to come!

.

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"

Lobster Season Ends

So while I'm waiting for the whale watch season to start, I thought I'd go out for the last day of the lobster fishing season in southwestern Nova Scotia. As a whole, I am hearing reports that it was not a great season with low catches, especially when the price of lobster was $15 per pound. The day was beautiful with light winds and calm seas. I didn't go on the first trip to get traps, that would have been at 5am. The first load of traps was unloaded by 10am and I jumped aboard to bring in the rest of the traps. I watched as each trap was landed and emptied of its catch. The traps were piled at the stern of the boat to be brought ashore to wait for "dumping day' of the 2007-2008 season. All in all, I enjoyed the day but much prefer watching whales...though I do like eating lobster!