Here are our June sightings!
June 2nd:
On this sunny day we arrived to Petit Manan Island to hear the news that a rosette tern had arrrived! Offshore we saw many pelagic birds including wilson storm petrels, greater shearwaters, and northern gannets. The gannets were diving into the water and we spotted balls of krill on the surface. The gannets were not the only ones feeding but also 2 finback whales and a minke! The finbacks were most likely feeding on the krill. One finback was blowing bubbles before surfacing, possibly trying to gather the krill into tighter balls. We also spotted a few pods of harbor porpoise along with some harbor and grey seals offshore.
June 4th:
Today was definately one of the best trips of the season thus far! The whale watch found 9 whales offshore! In total the sightings included 1 minke whale, 2 humpbacks, and 6 finbacks! One of humpbacks was identified as Partition! They were being a little lazy at first, but eventually they woke up a bit, lifting their tails out of the water so everyone could get nice looks before they disappeared below the surface.
Another exciting sighting was a cow and calf pair of finbacks! We rarely see cow and calf pairs, but this is typically the time we see them. They, as most finbacks do in our area, stop in for a few meals before heading north to the Bay of Fundy. A finback calf is already 18-20 feet long at birth and weighs in at about 2 tons!
June 8th:
Starting off at Petit Manan, we found numerous puffins hanging out in the water. No puffin chicks had been seen yet, but the researchers on the island were expecting them soon. But they were out banding terns. It is always exciting to hear about the status of the nesting birds on the island as well as the research that they are doing.
After spending time at Petit Manan we headed offshore to search for whales. The boat ended up finding 5 finback whales! Seals and porpoises were also seen throughout the tour.
June 9th:
It seemed that the birds out on Petit Manan had an unwanted visitor today. A peregrine falcon was spotted harrassing the terns. The nesting peregrines on Mount Desert Island usually have band on their legs, but this one did not, indicating that there might be a pair nesting near Petit Manan. They come out to the island to feed on the nesting birds including puffins. Because of this, the researchers stationed on the island try to scare the peregines away by either banging on pots, yelling, or seting up recorded owl calls.
After witnessing the paragrine harrassment, we ventured offshore to soon find 2 minke whales and 5 finback whales. We got great looks at the finbacks. Minkes can be a bit shy and elusive, but overall we got good looks. We also saw quite a few harbor porpoise, about 20-30 along with a few harbor and grey seals!
