End of May sightings

Canada Goose in Grand Passage

Hello everyone! Hard to believe that we're at the end of May already! We've had a report from a lobster fisherman that a humpback was sighted just off Brier Island. Unfortunately, we didn't have a cruise that day, so we were unable to investigate and find out who the whale was! When we have been going out we have been sighting Minke whales and also a lot of birds. Seals have been quite abundant in the Bay of Fundy as well. There are two species of seals that are common to the Bay; Harbour Seals and Grey Seals.

Grey Seals

Our next cruise will be on Sunday, May 31st.

Lobster fishing boat, Ray's Legacy from Brier Island

Whales and birds and krill, Oh My!

Northern Gannets.

Our whale watching season started on May 18th, 2009. And it was a successful start to the season at that! We covered about 30 nautical miles on our first cruise and actually ended up very close to Brier Island at Moore's Ledge, about 4 miles north of the island. The Bay was quite active that day with many birds being seen, including: Northern Gannets, Puffins, a Razorbill, a Common Murre, Red Necked Phalaropes, Black Legged Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars

Also on Moore's Ledge we sighted our first whale of the season, a minke whale. this was soon joined by another because of the ample supply of prey species in the area. For the last few days, we have noticed an abundance of krill upon which the herring, birds and whales have been feeding upon.

So even though it is early in the season for whale watching, we have had the pleasure of seeing the smallest baleen species that comes into the Bay of Fundy. A great start to the season!

Whale watching to start May 16th, 2009

Our whale watching season is scheduled to start on May 16th! The lobster fishermen are reporting that there is bountiful prey species for the whales so that looks promising. Our whale watching boat, Cetacean Search was sailed home last week from Digby and along the way we did sight a humpback whale and a minke whale. A good sign of the season to come!

The Whales are still here!

P.D. and her 2008 calf in Grand Passage!

Even though we haven't been whale watching since October 14th, that doesn't mean that the whales are gone. Normally, the whales leave here by this time to make their way to the Caribbean for the breeding and calving season which takes place in the winter. For some reason, there were still four that hadn't made that journey yet. I'm sure there are more as I have been hearing the odd report that whales are still being seen from shore.

Today these four humpback whales were seen in Grand Passage, the body of water that runs between Brier and Long Islands. It was easy to identify them from shore as they were quite close. They were P.D. and her 2008 calf, Flame but I was unable to identify the fourth individual.

Hmmm, maybe we stopped whale watching too soon!

Four humpbacks in Grand Passage!

October Winds

Greetings everyone! Our season has ended for 2008 and it was a great year overall. Never before have we recorded as many calves in the Bay of Fundy as we did for this year. At season end we had 24 new calves in the Bay but sadly, we lost 2 of those. They were the calves of Rooftop and Spoon.

The photos above show one of the reasons why we end our season in October. These photos were taken at Pond Cove on Brier Island. The first photo show what happened when such high seas meet. Amazing!

An Orca in the Bay of Fundy!

Oh did I forget to mention that on September 20, 2008 we sighted an Orca in the Bay of Fundy? It was travelling with a small group of Atlantic White Sided Dolphins!

Fabulous Whale Watching!

Whale watching continues to be fabulous with Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises. Our calf count is currently at 23! This is a record number for the Bay of Fundy as the average sightings of mother and calves is usually no more than 5 per season. Although the last few years there has been an increase. The latest mother to arrive in the Bay of Fundy with her calf has been Kalimba. She has been sporatically sighted in the Bay of Fundy since 1991 and this appears to be her first known calf .

Kalimba

On a sad note we lost one of our calves. A small humpback whale washed up in Delap's Cove, Nova Scotia. Jack Tattrie sent some photos to me of the identifying pattern on the underside of the flukes and it was matched to Spoon's 2008 calf. We are not sure what happened but it is under investigation.

Spoon's 2008 calf on September 5, 2008

Identifying marks on the right fluke.

On a much happier note, there are plenty of whales around Brier Island to see. On September 28th, we recorded 21 individual humpback whales and 1 right whale. Keep in mind that every trip is different and we never know what we're going to see.

Breaching Right Whale