July 2, 2008
 Despite thick fog and rain, we were still able to find a lot of humpback whales on Stellwagen Bank. Tornado (Adopt-A-Whale) and calf, Pele, Milkweed, and Sieben were found slowly traveling around in the fog on Saturday. On Sunday morning, Cajun and calf were breaching and flipper slapping while Tornado and calf, Milkweed, and Geometry were swimming through the area.
 In the afternoon the fog cleared enough to find a bunch of whales feeding on sandlance. All of the humpback whales were using their own method of bubble cloud feeding and kickfeeding, the fin whales were side-lunging through the bait patches (see image), and minkes whales were darting back and forth through the fish. Some of the whales sighted that day included Tigris, Pinpoint, Cardhu (Adopt-A-Whale) and calf, Palette, Octave, and our first sighting of Leukos this season and she had a calf with her!
Since the weekend, the weather has been much better and the sightings continue to be great. Some of the new whales moving into the area are Raccoon, Plateau, Colt (Adopt-A-Whale), Moonlight, Weathervane, Carbon, Venom, and Blackout. We even saw a new unknown mom and calf pair that brings our total number of calves so far this season to 40 and it is only the beginning of July!
June 19, 2008
 After several rainy days, Tuesday dawned clear just in time for the first research trip with passengers on our new research boat, the Mysticete. And what a trip it was! With more than a dozen humpbacks seen, including Regulus (an Adopt-A-Whale) and his mom, Bilbo and her 2008 calf. There was an uncommon sighting of a fin whale mom and calf with the calf coming up right next to the boat (see image).
June 15, 2008
 This week has been a great week for us. Not only are we seeing a bunch of humpback whales, but we are also seeing a lot of minke whales and fin whales on the Bank. The whales are moving around quite a bit, one day they will be near the Northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, and then the next day most of the whales will be south of the BE buoy. We are also getting to see a large variety of behaviors from day to day; including lunge feeding and kickfeeding, breaching and flipper slapping, and curious calves that are checking out the boat.
 Despite the rainy weather, Sunday was a thrilling day for whale watching. Once again the sandlance moved onto the Bank in great numbers and the whales were soon to follow. There were about 30 humpbacks near bubble cloud feeding and kickfeeding near the NW corner. Echo and calf as well as Cardhu (Adopt-A-Whale) and calf were around and as the moms fed the calves would come over to the boat and we were able to get great looks at them. Geometry would come up lunge feeding and the only way you knew he was about to surface was because the sandlance would start jumping out of the water about 30 seconds before he came up. Other whales feasting on the plentiful sandlance included Perseid, Nile, Etch-a-sketch, Thread, Sabre, Alphorn, Rocker, Jabiru, Lavalier, and Level. We are always happy to see so many whales on the bank and hope this trend continues throughout the season.
June 6, 2008
This month started somewhat on a solemn note. Even though Stellwagen Bank is a National Marine Sanctuary, on a daily basis there can be a large number of boats ranging from small private boats (around 20 feet long) to huge cargo ships and LNG tankers (can reach lengths of over 900ft!). Also there are various types of fishing gear on the bank, including off-shore lobster pots and gill nets. Ship strikes and entanglements are the leading causes of death in most of the large whale species in the North Atlantic. The whales can't always avoid the ships and many people do not know how to safely navigate around whales. When a large ship and a whale collide, most of the time the whales do not survive, either the impact kills them or the much larger propellers cut too deep. With small vessels, if the whale is lucky, the impact will not be as hard or the propellers will not cut as deep and the whale is left with injuries that they will hopefully be able to recover from.
 Entanglements can be just as dangerous. Visibility is only about 10 feet in the waters off Massachusetts; therefore, a whale wouldn't even be able to see its own tail and could have a difficult time seeing lines in the water as it swims along. The lines can tightly wrap around the whale preventing it from being able to swim or eat properly. The lines can also cut off circulation to flippers or flukes causing infection or lose of the limb which could then lead to death. During one of the whale watches this week we saw many reminders of these everyday threats. The first whale we came across was a fin whale that had old scars on its side left by a propeller of a boat that hit it. Then we came across a minke whale that was in rough shape. Not only did it have deep propeller scars across its back, but it also had deep entanglement scars. You can see in the photo above the deep straight lines that go around the whale were most probably caused by a line that was so tight around that whale that the whale's body continued to grow around the line. Then behind those straight lines you can see the deep curved propeller scars across the back. Even though a good number of the humpback whales that come to Stellwagen have various scars from previous entanglements or ship strikes, it is very rare that we see a minke whale with these scars.
 Towards the end of the trip we found two humpback whales, Tongs and her new calf, and the calf was entangled. It had line wrapped around its tailstock leading to a buoy. Luckily it was a calm enough day that the disentanglement team from the Center for Coastal Studies was able to make their way to the northern part of the bank to attempt to remove the gear. The team has specialized equipment to remove the gear and they work on small boats in order to maneuver around the whales. The team ended up removing 150 feet of line off Tongs' calf! They said that since the calf is so young (only about 5 months old) and growing so quickly that this entanglement could have caused serious issues for the whale if they hadn't been able to remove it. We (and Tongs' calf) are very lucky that the team was able to remove the gear from the whale, they are not always successful so we can not simply rely on them to remove the gear; we have to work on ways to prevent entanglements in the first place.
On a positive note, we are currently working on more proactive methods to prevent ship strikes and entanglements. Data from the Whale Center as well as other research organization in the area were used to determine a safer route for the larger cargo and tankers through the sanctuary. As a result, the shipping lanes were moved last July a few miles to the north to a deeper area of the bank where whales tend to be more spars. Also, we are currently working on implementing a speed restriction on the larger ships so that they have more time to spot and try to avoid the whales. The fishing gear issue is a little more complicated, but all Massachusetts lobstermen have agreed to use 'sinking line' between their lobster pots in order to reduce the amount of line floating in the mid-water column. We are still actively working with other research organizations, the government, and various fisheries to come up with whale-safe gear that is also safe for the fisherman to use.
May 30, 2008
We had a pretty long week of bad weather that kept us off the water, but the weather has improved and so has our sightings! The whales have been feasting this past week on a ton of sand lance that have moved onto the northern part of the bank. As the boats moved through the water the passengers could look down and see the sand lance swimming right beneath the surface of the water. During a 3-4 hour whale watch we would see around 10 finback whales, a handful of minkes, and 20-30 humpbacks whales! The plentiful bait fish attracted many new whales into the area that we hadn't seen since last year.
 These sightings included Hancock, Perseid, Geometry, and Vulture with her new calf all lunging together through a bubble net. Mars, Ember (an Adopt-A-Whale), Isthmus, Howler, Anchor, and Ganesh were also some of the new whales all feeding in the area. We also had a bunch of mom and calf pairs enjoying the feast: Tornado (an Minkes whales) and calf, Trident (an Adopt-A-Whale) and calf, as well as Firefly and calf! We were quite surprised to see Firefly with a new calf. She just had a calf in 2007 and usually humpback whales have a calf every two years. That means that even though she was nursing her 2007 calf she was also pregnant at the time with her 2008 calf - talk about one strong female. We are hoping that the fish stick around a little longer so that we can continue watch these humpbacks with their diverse feeding behaviors.
May 23, 2008
 It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend to be out on the water. The sand lance and the whales have spread out a little, but we are still having great sightings. Etch-a-sketch seems to be everywhere on the bank. No matter what boat you are on, it seems that Etch-a-sketch is somewhere near feeding constantly. Touchdown and calf have been taking advantage of that fact and Touchdown has been coming through Etch-a-sketch's bubble clouds to catch a quick meal. Cardhu and calf as well as Bilbo and calf have been around lot as well and seem to be traveling and rest on the surface quite a bit. Reaper and Entropy have been seen kick feeding and Tulip's 2007 calf was exhibiting some curious behavior towards a whale watching boat with another small whale. With June right around the corner, we are looking forward to the start of our Mysticete (new research boat) research trips June 6.
May 9, 2008
The 2008 Earth Day Whale Watch was a great success!! Each year the Whale Center has a fundraiser to celebrate Earth Day and to kick off the whale watching season. This year we had around 80 passengers join us for this all day whale watch. Despite the cold and rainy weather we had an excellent whale watch.
We started off the day with Glo and Rapier traveling south and continued on to find quite a few humpbacks heading towards the middle of the bank. We were able to identfy Underline, Falcon, as well as Hancock and Photon – both of which had their first recorded calves last year.
 In the distance we saw breaching, so we headed to find out which whale that was. It turned out to be Springboard and we got some great looks at her. She continued to breach and flipper slap for about an hour before we left her. We found Reflection feeding next and then saw Zeppelin! Zeppelin is one of our adopt-a-whales and she had a calf last year. Even though other research groups have seen her over the past few years, we haven't seen her since 2005.
We also caught a glimpse of Crystal, Salt's 1980 calf. We ended the trip with a group of five whales that were socially interacting and swimming back and forth underneath the boat. This allowed all the passengers to get great looks at these huge animals before we had to head back home to Gloucester.
In addition to the Earth Day Whale Watch, we've been out on the water almost every day this week. The whales are really moving around on Stellwagen Bank quite a bit even thought it appears that there are large numbers of bait fish throughout most of the bank. Tear (another on of our adopt-a-whales) was seen with Doric, Nile, and Milkweed on the NW corner on Monday.
 By Tuesday the whales had moved and during our research trip we found about 20 of them kick feeding by Woods End on Cape Cod. Those ID's included Anvil and calf, Deuce, Flounder, Reflection, Appaloosa, Filament, Loon, Quad, Thumper, as well as Molson and Walrus – the two original kick feeders that started this behavior back in the mid-80's. On Wednesday there were some back near the top of the bank, including Etch-a-sketch and Pixar. This weekend's weather doesn't look to promising, but hopefully we'll get out there once or twice!
May 3, 2008
The beginning of the week was a little slow for whale watches. It was a little rough this past weekend, but we found a few juvenile humpbacks on the southern part of the bank. The whale watches were cancelled on Monday and Tuesday because it was too rough, but by Wednesday we were back on the water. It looks like there is a ton of bait (sand lance) on the bank, which is always a good sign. You could actually see the sand lance swimming at the surface.
 Sand lance, also known as sand eels, tend to be the main prey species for humpback whales on Stellwagen Bank. Stellwagen is a good habitat for them because the bank has a sandy bottom and these fish tend to bury themselves in the sand as night falls. Jeffreys Ledge, located north of Cape Ann, is another important feeding ground for whales, but that ledge has a rockier, muddy bottom which attracts other species of fish such as mackerel and herring.
 By the end of this week we had some great whale watches. There were a group of humpbacks towards the southern part of the bank that were kickfeeding and breaching. Others were swimming right up to the whale watching boats and checking the boat out as the whale watchers were getting some great looks at them.
Some of the whales we saw included Mural (first seen in '80) and calf, Fulcrum (Chimney '97 calf), Hancock (Clipper's '91 calf), Draco (Trident's '98 calf), and Buzzard (Reflection '00 calf). There were also some fin whales as well as about 50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins! This week ended on a high note and we are really looking forward to our all day, Earth Day Whale Watch tomorrow!
April 25, 2008
 To our surprise the whales moved quite a bit over the weekend. We headed out on our second research trip on Monday only to find that most of the whales have moved off of the northwest corner of Stellwagen. It appears that some of the whales have moved off of the bank, but a large number of them have joined the right whales on the southern portion of the Bank. We've seen quite a few juvenile humpback whales traveling and feeding including Thalassa's 2007 calf and Siphon's 2007 calf as well as some unknowns from the 2007 season that will be named in the next two weeks. We are also happy to see that Tongs has returned to Stellwagen Bank with a calf this year! When this calf was born it was only about 15 feet long and weight around a ton. Even though the calf is now a few months old and is gaining about 60 pounds/day, you can see how small it looks compared to Tongs (in the photo here: Tongs' fluke and the calf's dorsal).
 As for sightings of other species, during one whale watch we were lucky enough to come across about 40 harbor porpoises that were traveling across the Bank (see image). During another trip we found 50-70 Atlantic white-sided dolphins doing some aerobatic activity and bow-riding next to the boat. Even though the whales on the southern part of the bank are a little farther away from the harbor, it has allowed some whale watchers to get a once in a lifetime glimpse of the highly endangered North Atlantic right whales.
April 18, 2008
Our first research trip of the season was a great success! We purchased a new boat this winter, a 42 ft lobster style boat, and it is a nice change from Silver II. We need to make a few adjustments to the boat in the next few weeks and then it will be ready to take passengers out for the summer research trips.
 We headed to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank and during the course of the 7 hour trip we got identifications on 30 humpback whales! Some of the whales sighted were Zebra and calf (our first mother and calf pair of the season), Loon's 2007 calf, Patchwork, Rapier, Tulip, Buzzard, Etch-a-Sketch, Thread, and Springboard kick feeding and bubble cloud feeding, while Mars, Nile, Tunguska, Pepper, Appaloosa, were traveling and resting at the surface.
 There were also Atlantic white-sided dolphins feeding all over the bank, lunging fin whales, and a few Minkes whales scattered around. Overall it was a great day to be out on the water and a great start to our 2008 research trips.
April 13, 2008
 The 2008 field season has started off with a bang! April 12 was our first whale watch with Boston Harbor Cruises and it was great to see a lot of whales are already back on Stellwagen Bank. Most of the humpback whales that spend their summer off the coast of Massachusetts spend their winter in an area called Silver Bank near the Dominican Republic. They spend their time in the warmer waters mating and giving birth, but unfortunately there is no food for them in that part of the ocean, so they are fasting for about 5 months. By the time early spring rolls around, the humpbacks are using the last of their blubber reserves and need to head north to the summer feeding grounds. In April, the first of the migrating whales are stopping here on Stellwagen to end their fasting period. Some will continue north to other feeding grounds off of the coast of Maine, Canada, Iceland, and Greenland; while others will stay closer Stellwagen for the entire summer.
 Some of the humpbacks we've already seen are Etch-a-sketch (Thalassa's 1998 calf), Pipette (first seen in 2000), Palette (Compass's 1989 calf), Sabre (first seen in 1980), Midnight (first seen in 1979), Jabiru (first seen 2002), and Molson (first seen 1980) with her 2007 calf still with her.
In addition to these humpback whales enjoying the feast here on Stellwagen, there are also a large number of finback whales and minke whales as well as a few harbor porpoises and Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
There has also been a lot of action down south in Cape Cod Bay. Right now the area is full of right whales! The North Atlantic right whale is the one of the most endangered whale species with only about 350 individuals left and around 100 whales are feasting on copepods in Massachusetts Bay. It is hard to imagine that about 1/3 of the entire species population is 'right' in our backyard!
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Humpbacks Seen
2-3 White-spot & calf
Abrasion
Aerospace
Alphorn
Anchor
Anvil & calf
Appaloosa
Ase
Aswan
Binary
Blackhole
Bilbo and calf
Bramble
Buzzard
Cajun and calf
Carbon
Cardhu and calf
Chaise
Colt
Compass and calf
Conflux
Cord
Crystal
Deneb
Deuce
Divisioin and calf
Doric
Draco
Dusky & calf
Echo & calf
Ember
Entropy
Etch-a-sketch
Exclaim
Falcon
Fern
Filament
Firefly & calf
Flounder
Follicle
Ganesh
Gar
Grackle
Geometry
Glo
Glo-stick
Habenero & calf
Hancock
Howler
Iota
Isthmus
Jabiru
Lavalier
Leonid
Leukos and calf
Level
Loon
Loon 2007 calf
Mantis
Mars
Midnight
Milkweed
Molson
Molson 2007 calf
Moray
Mural and calf
Molson
Moonlight
Mustache
Nile
Nimbus and calf
Nuages & calf
Octave
Palette
Patchwork
Pele
Pepper
Perseid
Photon
Pinpoint
Pisces
Pinstripe & calf
Pipette
Pixar
Plateau
Pregunta
Pumpkinseed
Putter
Quad
Raccoon
Rapier
Rattan
Reaper
Reflection
Regulus
Rocker
Sabre
Scylla & calf
Shards
Sieben
Siphon 2007 calf
Shockwave & calf
Sloop & calf
Springboard
Strike
Stub
Sweep
Sword
Tear
Tectonic
Thalassa 2007 calf
Thread
Thumper
Tigris
Tilt
Timberline
Tongs and calf
Tornado and calf
Trident and calf
Trident 2006 calf
Tulip
Tulip 2007 calf
Tunguska
Underline
Ursa 2007 calf
Valley
Venom
Viking
Vulture and calf
Walrus
Weave
Weathervane
Whirligig
Wizard & calf
Wizard 2006 calf
Wyoming
Yoo Hoo
Zeppelin
Zipper
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