May 31, 2011

Well, we certainly had an eventful day on the water! Not only was it a beautiful, crystal clear day, we had the chance to see a great deal of wildlife. Our visit to Petit Manan started out with spotting numerous puffins sitting on the rocks, in the water, and flying in the air. Razorbills were present in good numbers, at times flying close the boat, allowing us close looks. Arctic terns filled the air as we spotted some of the researchers out on the island. Biologists with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were also on the island.



Heading offshore our eyes were glued and focused on the horizon, looking for any signs of whale activity. Suddenly, a blow was spotted in the distance. Eventually, we started spotting numerous blows, at one point we almost losting count! After a weekend of fog we were thrilled to finally see some whales, but we were not expecting to see so many!

We estimated seeing nearly 10 finback whales and 9-10 minke whales! The finbacks were feeding in groups to two and three, along with some solitary whales. Why so many? Captain Larry spotted a thick layer of bait on the fish finder. There seemed to be enough to sustain these large whales, considering a finback whale will consume nearly 6,000 pounds a fish a day!


Northern gannets were diving all around us and we sighted a few small groups of greater shearwaters. At one point, two juvenile finbacks surfaced close the boat, slowly swimming below the surface. It was amazing to have such close looks at these enormous animals! This was truly a trip to remember and our best so far this season. Trips like these make us eager to get back out on the water again!

A big thank you to Walter Churchill for these fantastic photos!

The 2011 Season Has Begun!

After making it through a very long winter, we are excited to be back on the water and eager to see what the 2011 season has in store for us. Trips started going out on Friday May 27th, which was a great way to start the Memorial Day weekend. Mother nature worked with us a bit this weekend, but foggy conditions made looking for whales difficult. However, our visits to the puffin nesting island, Petit Manan, were successful. The puffins are back and their numbers are doing well so far. Offshore we were happy to see many different pelagic birds, including northern gannets, greater shearwaters, Leach's storm petrel, northern fulmars, and phalaropes.Seeing many birds is always a good sign. Birds as well as whales a important environmental indicators. They help us understand what is going on below the surface, where we are unable to see, unless we happen to see something on our fish finder.

There were thousands of phalaropes at Mount Desert Rock. This is a small offshore island, home to Allied Whale's research station, the most remote lighthouse on the East coast, and hundreds of seals. We had the chance to check out the island this past weekend.

But we will not let the fog disappoint us! We have only just begun and it is early in the season. What makes whale watching an exciting experience is that every trip is different. Mother nature is always surprising us! So come join us on a trip! From June 2-5th, participants with the Acadia Birding Festival will be join us on the whale watch. To learn more about the Acadia Birding Festival visit: http://www.acadiabirdingfestival.com/

Look forward to seeing you!

June Sightings Continued: 16th-19th

June 16th

After a couple days of fog we were able to get out on the water again. We were very fortunate to have found one of our well known humpbacks named Tusk! The passangers had some nice looks at Tusk, as he spent a great deal of time at the surface and took short, four minute dives. Many different species of pelagic birds observed today including greater shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, northern gannets, and Wilson storm petrels.

June 17th:

We had quite a few whales out there today-a total of 5 humpback whales! One of the whales was identifed as Triton, a male humpback that we've been seeing since 1981! We also had a juvenille humpback that suddenly became very active! It breached at least ten times and did some chin slaps. This is when the whale lifts its head out of the water and slams it on the surface. Another great day out on the Friendship V!

June 18th:


On our journey offshore to the east we came across 3 minke whales and a humpback whale! The minke whales were actually seen close to shore, off Egg Rock and Schoodic Point. This tends to be common with minke whales. During the mid-summer they make their way inshore to feed on small schools of herring.



June 19th:

Today, we had calm seas and great wildlife sightings to enjoy. The first of our exciting sightings included a Great Skua! It was first spotted sitting on the water and then flew right ove the boat! In regards to the whales, we were treated to a cow and calf pair of finback whales! Everyone had the chance to get nice looks at this pair. Overall, a wonderful tour!

June Trips

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!

A Whale of Start to the Season!

WELCOME!

How wonderful it is to be back on the water! We apologize for the delay in posting our sightings, but the whales and beautiful weather have been keeping us busy! We hope you enjoy reading about our 2010 sightings.

May 27th:

On this beautiful, calm, sunny day our first stop was Petit Manan Island, which provided the chance for passangers to see about 50 puffins, 4 razorbills, and hundreds of terns. Once we headed offshore, we continued to see numerous pelagic bird species including, northern gannets, red phalaropes, terns, and a sooty shearwater.

As we continued on to the whale grounds we eventually spotted a couple of blows which turn out to be 2 finback whales! We got wonderful looks, with the finbacks surfacing close to the boat. There was also another finback and a minke whale nearby. Through out the trip we spotted pods of harbor porpoise, which is a small toothed whale common to both the inshore and offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine.

Overall, a great way to kick off the 2010 season!

May 28th

Today, though we had great bird sightings, we had a little trouble finding the whales. This happens occationally, especially in the beginning of the season. Patches of bait were seen on the fish finder and birds such as northern gannets, terns, phalaropes, a sooty shearwater, and 4 red-throated loons were out and about. We also had the chance to visit Mount Desert Rock, which is Allied Whale's offshore research station and home to hundreds of harbor and grey seals!

May 29th:

Though it was a cool day out there, we were successful in finding whales and other marine life on this trip. Our bird sightings included scoters and a kittiwake, along with puffins, terns, and nothern gannets.

We spotted a couple of pods of harbor porpoise and Laura Kennedy, our bird researcher, saw the first blow. Two more blows were spotted and the boat got nice looks at 3 finback whales! Also about 3 to 5 grey seals popped up while we were on the whales.

May 31st

The whale sightings continued to be great as the Friendship V ventured offshore to the whale grounds. The boat was able to find 4 finback whales and a minke whale! It seemed that the whales were feeding when one of the finbacks made a sharpe "u-turn" while at the surface. When the whales make a sudden change in direction or seem to be swimming in a circle at the surface, this usually indicates feeding behavior.

Other marine mammals sighted on the trip included a couple of grey seals and harbor porpoise!

Looking Back at 2009

We can hardly believe it is December! The boats are out of the water and Bar Harbor has transformed back to a sleepy, quiet town. With winter and the new year on our door step it won't be long until we are counting down the days until we will be back on the water again and the boats are filled with excited passengers.

To echo naturalist Linda in the previous post, The Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company would like to thank everyone that joined us out on the whale watch this season. By coming on our whale watch trips as well as participating in Allied Whale's adopt-a-whale program, purchasing a "Save the Whale" and/or "Friends of Maine Seabird Islands"pin, you have helped in the conservation and protection of endangered Gulf of Maine wildlife!

We were fortunate to have seen many of our adoptable whales this year. If you are considering adopting a whale, they do make a wonderful gift! To order online go to:

http://coa.edu/adoptawhale.htm

or call Allied Whale at:

(207) 288-5644

Finally, to wrap it up, the clip below features video and photographs from some of our best trips of the 2009 season. We hope that for all that came aboard it was an experience to be remembered for years to come. We will continue to keep you posted on our trips during the 2010 season, so stay tuned!

On behalf of the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. we wish everyone a happy holiday season!

See you in 2010!

Here's looking back at 2009!

Thanks for a great season!

So as we rap up these last days of the whale watch, I would like to thank all of our crew for working so hard keeping the boats running and for tending to our passengers, and overall for making this a great year. While our whales left our ballpark for Canadian waters, even in the final days of the whale watch, we had been seeing great whales on all our trips. Though it took us longer to get to them, we had great sightings. On the Grand Manan Banks we had two feeding humpbacks and one Finback whale! We stayed with them for an hour and forty-five minutes and everyone had a great time and came back to a beautiful sunset greeting them. Not a bad way to end the season! We do hope that everyone comes back next year to enjoy these magnificent whales and scenery with the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company again! Thank you!

Naturalist Linda

Lunge/Bubble Feeding Hump!

Naturalist Kaitlyn, crew and 245 lucky passengers were very patient and it did pay off with yesterday's trip! Along with plenty of seals, offshore birds and a Minke Whale, the highlight of Friday's trip was a humpback whale!! Normally, just seeing a humpback and it's beautiful tail coming out of the water is plenty of excitement for us whale watchers, but yesterday they had a lunge and bubble feeding one! Lunge and bubble feeding are two ways that humpback whales eat, and both ways are very exciting to see! Now, while it was very exciting to see a humpback, we did have to travel a longer way to find them. Instead of our normal 20 to 25 miles offshore, yesterday the crew had to go all the way to Grand Manan, Canada in order to see the whale. But with patience comes rewards, and as I hear it, this whale was worth the wait! I can't help but be a little bit jealous of yesterday's crew, but hopefully the whales will stop by the ballpark before completely heading down south! Keep reading.

Naturalist Linda

Maine Audubon Pelagic Bird Trip

On October 3 at 6am, the Friendship V left Bar Harbor and ventured offshore for the annual Maine Audubon Pelagic Seabird Trip! On their way to and from Grand Manan passengers had the chance to see multiple pelagic seabird and marine mammal species! Whale species sighted included: minke, finback, humpback whales, long-finned pilot whales, and even the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale! We will update you on the bird species when we hear from senior naturalist, Zack Klyver, who guided the trip. This offshore adventure is usually offered every fall by the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company and it is an incredible trip! Maybe we'll see you next year?

Check out pictures from this trip on our Flickr site!

Pilot Whales Galore!

We had our hopes built up and then let down when we had two Finback whales run through the "Ballpark" a few days back. We had no luck with them one day, found them the next, and then we unfortunately lost them again.
So after a few days of not much luck we finally had some of the most fun whales yesterday Monday September 21st! Pilot Whales! We knew it was going to be a great trip because we found a Minke whale at Egg Rock (just 20 minutes into our whale watching trip!) We had great looks at Harbor Porpoise, Gray and Harbor Seals at Mount Desert Rock, plenty of Phaloropes and Puffins, and them we found the happiest little whales on Earth, the Pilot Whales!
We came across a pod of about 50 pilot whales, including very large males, plenty of females and even a very cute calf who loved showing off for the boat. If anyone ever wondered whether or not whales liked boats, this trip proved that they do! The baby was breaching close to the boat, spyhopping, tail lobbing and blowing bubbles underwater! Even the adults were having fun!
The adults were also blowing bubbles, rolling around on their backs and slapping their flippers on the surface of the water! You could even hear the clicks that these whales made! That almost never happens! It was quite an amazing trip and our naturalist Lauren (also one of our Research Assistants (RA)) did a great job narrating the trip. And our RA of the day Laura also took amazing pictures. For more of her photos of the day, please visit our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhwhales
So there is still plenty to see out there in the ocean and we hope you can join us on one of our amazing trips!

Bye for now,
Naturalist Linda

Back up and Running!

We do apologize for not keeping up with the blog, but all us naturalists have been very busy now that fall has picked back up. But we do hope to stay on top of things this time! Now, we've all been very busy, but the whales have been a different story!

After a great and amazing August, we were hit by tropical storm Bill and by Danny and boy did they do a number on us! We suspect that they scattered all the food around and disrupted the foraging whales! So at the end of August and beginning of September, we experienced a lull in the whale sightings. We went days without seeing our wonderful Humpbacks and Finbacks, but we did see some amazing other creatures!

We saw Ocean Sunfish also known as Mola mola, their scientific name. We saw Pilot Whales for a number of days and even basking sharks! It was great seeing those creatures, but alas no large whales. But then we decided to go to the East! And we were pleasently surprised to seeing lots of Finback whales by Jonesport close to Canada!

We would like to thank all our passengers for being so patient on our l0ng trips to the East. They were long but well worth it! To see our recent photos from the Jonesport area, please visit our flickr site at www.flickr.com/photos/bhwhales Our wonderful research assistants have been great at updating the photo site, and now us naturalists are also stepping up to the plate!

Even though we've been checking out Jonesport pretty regularly, we did explore the Ballpark (an area we went to all the time early in the summer) and we were amazed when we found not one, but TWO FINBACK WHALES! However, we went back to that same sight yesterday 9/17/09 and found only one Minke whale. No finbacks. Hopefully they'll come back.

Either way we hope you will join us again or for the first time in our search for whales. They've all been excellent trips: beautiful weather, sunfish, basking sharks, bluefin tuna and great birds! Now all we need is for our whales to stick out the rest of the season with us! So pack up some patience, warm weather, a few snacks and a camera and join us for great trips!

Bye for now,
Naturalist Linda

A Whale of an August!

All we can say is WOW! The last few weeks have been wonderful with both great whales and weather! We apologize for not keeping up with the blog lately, but the whales have been keeping us busy! Stay tuned as we will post soon, but in the meantime check out the great photos on our Flikr site!

3rd Trip, August 12th

Today ended up being beautiful as the fog rolled out this morning. On the 4:30 sunset whale watch we had a whale a mile, if that, from Egg Rock! A minke whale surprised us as we traveled out of Frenchman Bay. We got some great looks considering that this species can be quite elusive and shy. After a few nice looks we continued on seeing numerous pods of harbor porpoise and seals! Birds were numerous to including razorbills, terns, gannets, and greater shearwaters.

Once we arrived to the Ballpark we eventually found 4 juvenile humpback whales. Lauren, our research assistant, identified all four which included: Spinnaker, Gavel, Canine, and Sonogram! Gavel and Sonogram are related because they share the same mother, a female named P.D.! It was interesting to see these four juveniles milling around the same area. They were most likely feeding on their own small patches of fish. But they took short dives allowing us to get great looks!

And the weather just could not have been better! The water was glass calm and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way home!

Stay tuned for pictures!

Beautiful Thursday!

August 6, 2009

The 9:00 whale watch on the Bay King III and Friendship V were great. The weather and whales were wonderful. We finally had a day with no fog. The two whale watch boats ventured offshore today and were very successful. We found 3 finback whales and 3 humpback whales. Two of the humpbacks were identified as Sonogram and Canine. These two young whales were circling around taking turns coming up to the surface. We got great looks at these whales. Other wildlife included harbor porpoise (photo below), seals, and many seabirds including northern gannets, shearwaters, and Wilson storm petrels.

It was a beautiful day!

Check out our Flikr site for more pictures from today's trips aboard the Friendship V and Bay King III

A Visit With Old Whale Friends

August 4, 2009

A fairly foggy morning ended up turning into a nice whale watch! Through the thick fog the crew picked up the pungent smell of whale breath or snarge. Suddenly three humpback whales surfaced nearby. Two of which were Gemini and Notchy. Gemini is one of the oldest visitors to the Ballpark. We've seen this male humpback since 1976 and Notchy since 1981!

We also saw pods of harbor porpoise and a couple of harbor seals. Pelagic seabirds were also abundant including northern gannets, fulmars, shearwaters, Wilson storm petrels, and even a puffin! We lucked out on our morning trip today!

August 3- 1:00 & 4:30 What a Day!

We had a great day on the water this afternoon! The fog finally moved offshore and the seas were decent enough to head to the Ballpark!

On our 1:00 we ventured out to the Ballpark because we received a call from a tuna fishermen named "Cookie" who had seen a few whales out there. As we approached the Ballpark and spotted the tuna boat, we started to spot blows everywhere! The whales were a bit spread out but there were at least 5-6 humpback whales all around us! Two of the humpbacks were identified as Egret and Canine. These two whales share the same mother, a whale named Siphon. Egret was born in 2007 and Canine in 2004.

Many harbor porpoise and seals were seen as well. The pelagic seabirds were also plentiful which included puffins, shearwaters, petrels, and gannets.

Our sunset whale watch was great as well! We first spotted whales breaching in the distance and as the boat approached we soon discovered 3 humpback whales-Canine, Egret, and Sonogram hanging out together! Traveling along with them was a pod of 20-30 Atlantic white-sided dolphins! This was the first trip of the season with dolphins. At one point, two of the humpback whales surfaced right next to the boat! We got incredible looks!

We then spotted another humpback whale flipper slapping in the distance. This active humpback was Flyer. At one point he was on his back lifting both flippers out of the water! He did this numerous times right next to the boat!

Harbor porpoise were everywhere! A large group of northern gannets were circling around the dolphins and humpbacks. We also saw 2 puffins, 3-4 northern fulmars, dozens of shearwaters, and a large feeding group of Wilson storm petrels! And we had a beautiful sunset to enjoy! A great day!

July 23rd - Four Humpbacks!

8:30 AM: Today started off foggy and overcast then cleared and became sunny. We were thrilled to have calm seas and returned to the area we call the Ballpark. On our way out we located a great diversity of seabirds including 100's of Greater shearwater, dozens of Sooty, 1 to 3,000 Wilson's Storm Petrel, 6 Northern Fulmar, 3 Pomarine Jaegar, 1 Parasitic Jaegar, 100 Northern Gannet, and 20 Red-necked phalarope. Along the way we saw lots of seals and 100's of porpoise and watched a Minke whale that was moving quickly and diving deep. We finally saw a bunch of blows to the east and upon arriving discovered four Humpbacks that seemed to be moving with lots of energy and feeding. In this group that were near each other by not always side by side, we identified Canine, Arrowhead, Sedge and a unknow type five juevenile. They eventually spilt up and started moving away in all directions so we followed Canine to the west. On the way in we heard from our friends on the Acadian that they had spotted a Minke whale in the bay near egg rock. A really exciting trip!

Super Tuesday - July 21st!

TUESDAY JULY 21, 2009 8:30AM:
We began the trip with overcast skys and thick fog in the bay and out to our Puffin nesting island. Upon arriving at Petit Manan the fog cleared just enough that we could see the shore and lighthouse. Heading out to our whale feeding grounds the fog began to lift and we started to see lots of shearwater, storm petrels, 100's of porpoise and dozens of seals. We also saw a Northern Fulmar and atleast 10 pairs of adult father razorbill with chicks. All of a sudden there were whales in all directions and we hadn't even arrived at our normal whale watching area! We had amazing looks at a group of five Finback whales charging through the ocean, one of which our research assistant Lauren identified as #3017. We then found two humpback whales which we recognized as Tusk and Partition, a male and female. Tusk has a dark figure in it's tail that looks like an animal head with a tusk and is a great friend of ours having been sighted since it was a calf of Eqqus in 1979. During this encounter Kaitlyn Allen, conducting acoustic research for her Phd recorded megap-clicks (glass 2006) which are thought to be the sounds humpbacks make when feeding. Not surprisingly our fish finding recorded a significant shoal of life below the boat that were probably serving as prey for the 8 to 10 Finbacks and 2 humpbacks we saw. A fabulous trip!


1:00PM: On our second tour of the day we returned to the area we found whales in the morning and discoverd five Finbacks. There were two pairs and a single whale moving with energy and acting as if they were feeding down deeper in the water column. We then caught up with our two humpback whales Partition and Tusk who were resting on the surface. Eventually they woke up and started swimming and showed us the beautiful patterns on the underside of their tails. Then Tusk did something that I have never seen a humpback whale do before. Tusk lifted his tail in the air and proceeded to wag it back and forth violently? This was a side to side motion and not up and down motion. The consensus among the crew was that this new behavior should be called Tail-wagging. It would be interesting to know from colleagues whether this is a behavior that they have seen in other parts of the Gulf of Maine as well. Overall - a great trip!

4:30PM: During our third trip it started to rain but that didn't dampen our spirits. We got great looks at 2 Humpbacks and 1 Finback whale. The star of this tour was a teenage humpback whale named Canine that lifted it's flukes out of the ocean repeatedly. This whale has a type four tail with many white streaks and marking agianst the black background. Canine was a calf of our favorite mother whale Siphon - four years ago. During this tour we saw lots of seabirds and 100's of porpoise and seals as well.

Patience Pays Off

July 28th

Even though the waters offshore were covered in a dense patch of fog, the whale watch crew decided to take the chance and venture out beyond the coast of Mount Desert Island to find whales. The weather has been a bit uncooperative with persistent fog and rain. But when determined and patient the whale watch can be successful in finding whales.

The morning trip was able to find a finback whale. But it was taking long dives most likely spending its time feeding in deeper water. Many species of pelagic bird species were seen such as shearwaters, razorbills, gannets, terns, and petrels.

On the 1:00 trip the whale watch ventured further offshore. Though the search was long it was worth it as the whale watch ended up finding 1 minke whale and 4 humpbacks. The four humpback whales included Siphon and her calf, a male humpback named Flyer and Canine, which was Siphon's 2004 calf. Siphon and her calf swam up to the boat, swimming around and across the bow! Also many seals and harbor porpoise were seen on the trip!

The whale watch decided to take another try and sailed off on their 4:30 whale watch. Being lucky once again they found 5 humpback whales on this trip. The humpback whale seen were Siphon and calf, Flyer, and on this trip Arrowhead was seen! The fifth whale was unknown as we were unable to get a look at the distinctive markings on the fluke or tail. But Siphon's calf put another great show for passengers as it performed some head stands and flipper slapping!

So despite the thick fog today's whale watch trips were a great success!

So How Are the Whales?

July 22nd

Despite some dense fog and rain, passengers on the 8:30am trip on July 22nd were treated to a finback which came right next to the boat! We also spotted harbor and gray seals along with harbor porpoise. Pelagic bird species also included northern gannets and greater shearwaters.

However, on the second trip, due to the fog, we were unable to find whales. Kaitlin Allen was on the boat using her hydrophone listening in for whales nearby. She was able to pick up some humpback calls! The seabirds were numerous offshore which is a good sign, showing us that there is still life around. Wilson storm petrels, greater shearwaters, and a pomarine jager were sighted.