| Wednesday, October 17, 2001
The past several weeks have been very unusual on Stellwagen Bank. Sand lance, the baitfish that comprises the mainstay in the diet of humpback whales in this area, have been few and far between. However, we have been seeing both humpback and fin whales feeding on krill!
 Krill were made famous by the early studies of whales in the Antarctic, where these two-inch, shrimp-like animals are the nearly exclusive prey of most whales, including humpbacks. Our krill are much smaller - less than a half an inch long, weighing far less than an ounce each - meaning that they have to occur in huge swarms to be enough for a whale to eat.
As you might expect, feeding strategies of whales have been somewhat different as well. Instead of trapping their prey against the surface, as the whales typically do with baitfish, they have been feeding just below the surface and coming up with huge mouthfuls of water and prey. Dive times have often been very short (less than 90 seconds) and feeding near continuous. The feeding we have seen has also been in the deeper waters off the Bank, as opposed to the more regular sightings in shallow waters on top of Stellwagen.
Also noteworthy is the influx of new or rarely seen whales to feed on this new prey. While some animals (Fracture, Zeppelin, Cajun) are familiar, many are 1-3 year old juveniles that do not appear to be whales previously photographed. Among those whales we do know, several (, Bombay (the 2000 calf of Whisk), and Eyebrow are not animals we see with great regularity. Whale seen include: Bolide and calf, Echo and calf, Draco, Drip, Drizzle, Glo-stick, Mostaza, Nile, Salt, and Tiara among others.
Monday, September 17, 2001
Another week of twists and turns on the Bank. Whales have been seen on the northern half of Stellwagen Bank on most days, usually doing near-surface feeding. Dives have been very short, and whales have often been surfacing with their mouths full of water and prey.
On the southern end of the Bank, we started the week with lots of aggregated groups of whales (3-6 animals together) rushing around deep feeding. Near the end of the week, aggregations dispersed. Yesterday, however, we were treated to one of the best displays of open-mouth surface feeding we had seen all year!
Big sand eels were everywhere, and whales were certainly taking advantage of the prey aggregation. Mothers seen include Bolide, Echo, Molson, Owl, and Sparta; other whales seen include Ash, Cajun, Conflux, Coral, Eruption, Foxfire, Fracture, Rattan, Tiara, Venom, and Zeppelin among others.
On a side note, it has been a great time to be in the field with whales. At this time of horrible tragedy that we, as humans, have subjected on each other, it is especially nice to work with a species which is primarily peaceful, and whose primary concern remains where their next mouthful of prey is coming from.
Monday, September 10
Whales have spread out quite a bit, but remain numerous on Stellwagen Bank. For the first time this year we have also seen whales staying on the northern half of the bank, while the concentration of whales on the southern half has declined. We have not seen much surface feeding, but some whales appear to be working on mid-water prey patches.
Anvil has re-appeared with her calf for the first time since April! Other mothers seen include Buckshot, Compass, and Glo; other whales seen include Abrasion, Ash, Coral, Fracture, Grommet, Impact, Palette, Pogo, Putter, Tiara, and Zeppelin.
Monday, September 4, 2001
Some interesting twists and turns over the past few weeks in our whales, although density has remained high on the southern end of Stellwagen Bank. At the start of the two-week period surface feeding was common, and aggregations of whales were often spectacular. We really started to notice how many whales have switched from using bubble clouds (patches of small bubbles) to bubble nets (more intricate circles of bubble patches). The individual feeding patterns of each whale were very noticeable.
 About a week ago, though, there was a relatively sudden transition to large group sub-surface feeding, with something of a switch of which individuals were present. Instead of mainly seeing adults, we started to see more young adults and juveniles. We were glad to see Mostaza, last year's calf of Salt, return to the area, and there are several other young whales we don't recognize around the area as well.
Owl, the 1986 calf of Falco, has returned to Stellwagen with her 3rd calf. Other mothers seen include Bolide, Buckshot, Compass, Filament, Glo, and Nuages. Calves were great fun to watch, as they often wandered away from their mother and would investigate boats, and breach, flipper slap, or lobtail while on their own. We've seen a lot of whales; the list includes Beacon, Canopy, Cardhu, Chairlift, Colt, Draco, Epee, Eruption, Fracture, Mostaza, Peninsula, Rattan, Reflection, Rocker, Tiara, and Zeppelin, among others.
Monday, August 20, 2001
Not much has changed in the past few weeks: there are still humpback whales around, and many of them. The whales remain concentrated in a relatively small area on the southern part of Stellwagen Bank, and abundant prey has led to a number of spectacular feeding aggregations.
Some whales that we have not seen this year, or even in the past few years, have arrived in our area, but in general there appears to be a relatively consistent set of individuals that we are seeing repeatedly. One of our young females, named Drizzle, became entangled in fixed fishing gear last week, but was freed by the excellent work of the Center for Coastal Studies. We saw her feeding the next day with no fishing gear on her.
Mothers seen include Buckshot, Compass, Echo, Filament, and Sparta; other whales seen include Ash, Coral, Draco, Etch-a-Sketch, Eyebrow, Fracture, Giraffe, Grackle, Grommet, Iota, Midnight, Palette, Reflection, Tiara, Wizard, and Zeppelin.
Monday, August 6, 2001
 Wow, how things can change in a short period of time! Concentrations of humpback whales are now really fabulous, and have been for the past 10-14 days. We are now seeing regular surface feeding, sometimes in very large groups of whales. Yesterday we had about 30 humpbacks feeding within a mile diameter. All of the individual feeding styles are in full display; Ash and Midnight have been blowing intricate bubble nets, Rocker, Coral, Gibraltar and Reflection have been doing their kick feeding, or lobtail feeding, where they slam their tail down before feeding, presumably to stun fish; and Buckshot has been blowing her slow, leisurely bubble clouds followed by long filtering periods.
We have also seen times where whales have formed big associated groups to feed below the surface, as they often did in 1998; one time last week we saw as many as 9 humpbacks rushing around together. Most of the whales have been concentrated on the southern part of Stellwagen Bank, so it has been taking us a bit of time to get to them, but the rewards have been great once we have gotten there.
Two new mother calf pairs have shown up, in both cases the first recorded calves from the respected mothers. Bolide, first seen in 1994 in the Great South Channel, has her first, and Nuages, the 1989 calf of Lace, has her first (that is the first third generation calf in the Lace matriline). Other mothers seen include Filament, Compass, Buckshot, Sparta, and Octave; other whales seen include Ash, Canopy, Cajun, Circuit, Coral, Epee, Falcon, Foxfire, Fracture, Magi, Midnight, Pele, Peninsula, Perseid, Rocker, Sockeye, Tear, Tsunami, and Zeppelin, among others.
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
Nile, the 1987 calf of Mars, and mother of two calves of her own, was seen entangled on Stellwagen Bank this afternoon. The entanglement is not life threatening, but she does have a single line going through her mouth, wrapped once loosely around the body, and trailing on either side of her a few feet behind her flukes. Rescuers from the Center for Coastal Studies attempted to cut her free this afternoon, but the presence of 3 other whales in the same group, and long dive times, did not facilitate the task. We hope that she will free herself, but we will be on the lookout for this popular whale. We have contacted the Center for Coastal Studies and let them know that our resources are available to assist in the effort.
Monday, July 23, 2001
After an entire spring and early summer of whales coming and going, things are finally starting to settle down a little bit. For the first time, we are seeing residency in our whales of longer than just a day or two, indicating that they are finding enough prey to keep them on Stellwagen for the first time this year. Most of the activity is on the southern 1/3 of the bank, with occasional foraging forays into the northern part. Cajun, the 1998 calf of Cascade, has often been seen approaching boats - he is a very curious three-year old this year!
Mother calf pairs seen include Sparta and Apostrophe, a special sighting of Filament and her calf, and a first sighting of Buckshot (with a calf) in several years! Other whales seen include Abrasion, Cajun, Division, Dross, Giraffe, Teapot, Tear, Timberline, Tornado, and Touchdown.
There were also whales on Jeffreys Ledge. For the past week, Pinball and Satula have been seen regularly on the southern half of the Ledge. Satula is back after a disappearance of several years, and has acquired a badly damaged dorsal fin during that time. Given that he is an adult male, we assume the injury was acquired during breeding ground battles between males for access to females. It is encouraging to see him return!
Monday, July 9, 2001
 Whales are moving a lot, but are more consistent than they have been all year. We have anywhere from 6-18 humpbacks on Stellwagen on any given day. Many times they appear to be foraging and not finding what they are looking for, but a few whales have started to be resighted from day to day. Reports from local fishermen are that they are seeing a few more sand eels in the stomachs of the fish they are catching, and whales seem to have picked up on those sand eels.
Jeffreys Ledge also has some fin whales, minkes, and a sporadic humpback or two their as well - the humpback Pinball has been seen there sporadically.
On Stellwagen Bank, mother calf pairs seen include Apostrophe, Chimney, Compass, Glo, and Verga; other whales seen include Cajun, Dusky, Ivee, Hancock, Nile, Quercus, Rio, Rocker, Sirius, Skewer, Sod, and Stonehenge among others.
Monday, June 25, 2001
Things are looking up on Stellwagen Bank, as humpback whales appear to be arriving there from the Great South Channel, off of Nantucket. Each day there have been between 5-10 humpbacks spread out on the Bank. In most cases they are not staying long, indicating they are not finding a lot of food. A few whales, however, have been seen over several days.
A few new mother-calf pairs have appeared including Lace, Apostrophe, and Sparta (the 1996 calf of Square Fin, with her first calf ever). Other whales we have identified include Binary, Eyebrow, Exclaim, Jumanji, Nile, Simian, Snowplow, and Sockeye among others.
Monday, June 18, 2001
The humpback whales which had been feeding off of Cape Cod for a few days last week have now dispersed offshore once again. However, there are still a few humpbacks around the Stellwagen Bank area. Exclaim made his first appearance of the year today, and Sockeye was still around at the end of last week; in addition, there were reports of a few other scattered humpbacks today which we didn't get to identify.
We have seen several fin whale mother-calf pairs over the past week, including one regular returnee to Stellwagen. This fin whale, nicknamed "Funky dorsal" because of the unusual nicks and notches in her dorsal fin, was last observed with a calf in 1991, even though we have seen her every year! However, since fin whale calves wean early, and even drift away from their mother when still in association with her, it doesn't necessarily mean it has been that long since she had her last calf.
On Jeffreys Ledge there are a few fin whales, but any humpbacks which have been seen have not been staying long.
Wednesday, June 13
Over the past week, things have started to look a bit more promising inshore. We started to see signs of life about a week ago, when a number of fin whales and our first signs of prey started to show up. That same day, a few humpbacks started to put in a brief appearance on Stellwagen, although none have stayed for long.
Whales passing through in the following days included Verga with a calf, Chimney and calf, Mural and calf, Peninsula, and Ash. Then, over the weekend, a concentration of feeding humpbacks showed up just outside the northern part of Cape Cod!
While just too far for most of our whale watch boats to go, a Silver II research trip revealed well known adult whales like Salt, Sockeye, Giraffe, Molson with a new calf, Palette, Scratch, Wizard, and Walrus among others. There was abundant prey in the area, although it was difficult to determine prey type; when we saw fish in the whale's bubble clouds, they looked too small and too round to be sand eels, the normal prey of whales in the Stellwagen area.
Thursday, May 31, 2001
Things have remained quiet, although a few more bait fish have shown up in a few of the groundfish which feed on prey similar to the whales. We did see one new mother-calf pair; Compass with a calf. But they were present on only one day.
Finback and minke whales have been seen on a daily basis. There was a humpback whale which stranded on Cape Cod on Sunday evening, and died shortly afterwards, but it does not appear to be a whale we have photographed prior to the stranding. The whale was a 34 foot long male, and was extremely thin. Whale Center of New England scientists Mason Weinrich and Kate Sardi assisted the Cape Cod Stranding Network in the necropsy; watch for a photo series on the site soon.
Monday, May 21, 2001
 Things continue as they have been. The latest government aerial survey indicates that there are large numbers of humpbacks feeding far offshore, but few have ventured in to our coverage area. We did see Scylla and her calf again, and the calf has been very active.
Otherwise, good views of fin whales, minke whales, and Atlantic White-sided dolphins have been the norm on both Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge; we have split our time between the two areas.
Monday, May 14, 2001
Whales have continued to move around quite a bit, without establishing residency in any one spot for too long. There have been reports of aerial surveys of many humpback whales in the Great South Channel, on Georges Bank, and the whales we are seeing are probably moving in and out from there.
We had a surprising sighting of Scylla, the 1981 calf of Istar, with her 7th calf. Moreover, this is her fourth calf in five years! Since only two females have had ten or more calves, and they were adults in the mid-1970's (before Scylla was even born), this is a very high calving rate.
Whales have also been moving in and out of Jeffreys Ledge, and we have reliable reports of humpbacks on Platt's Bank (east of northern Jeffreys) from friends working out of southern Maine. Whales see include Tornado, Springboard, Trident, and Scylla and calf, and several humpbacks which still need to be identified.
April 27, 2001
2001 Field Season Underway!
The 2001 season has gotten off to an interesting start. Stellwagen Bank has been unusually quiet except for a small area southeast of the Bank, where a few whales have been sighted regularly.
Right whale sightings have been more common than usual for us, and we have seen several of the 31 calves born this year; of course, because of strict government regulations, we can't get close enough to photo-identify them when we are on whale watch boats. Still, it has been exciting to have them around.
We have several humpback mother-calf pairs so far: Anvil, Mural, and Echo. Mural is especially exciting; we have been seeing this adult female regularly since 1982, and this is the first calf we have ever sighted her with (there are a few years we didn't see her and may have missed one).
We have seen some lunge feeding, and have been seeing some very dynamic fin whale surface feeding as well. Other whales we have seen include Rio, Grommet, Fracture, and several others.
April 21, 2001
The Earth Day Whale Watch was yesterday, and the day turned out nicer than expected. Whale activity was a bit slow at the start, but we ended with a great trip. We had humpback whales, fin whales, and dolphins all surface feeding within about 150 feet of each other, breaching, flipper slapping. We also observed a right whale cow-calf pair from a distance.
It's not only a great way to start the season, but it's a fund raiser for the Whale Center as well, with Captain Bill's & Sons providing the boat for our use. Thanks to his company are again in order.
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