| Monday, December 23, 1997
It is snowing outside here, but the whales are still feeding on Stellwagen Bank. WCNE researcher David Morin accompanied the Massachusetts Audubon Society on their Christmas bird count on Stellwagen Bank on Sat, 12/21. While they had minimal time to observe marine mammals, Dave found 13-15 humpbacks feeding on the southern part of Stellwagen, and a large group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins feeding on patches of sand eels. Fin whales were also present.
Since Silver II is now hauled out of the water for the winter, this ends our 1997 field season; we'll be starting out for 1998 no later than April 1!
Monday, November 3, 1997
Silver II's fall season is kicking into serious gear; as I write this, the boat is on its way to Stellwagen for a fall survey. After stormy weather early in the week, we found large numbers of whales on the northern half of Stellwagen Bank last Thursday (when there were at least 40 humpback whales around) and Friday.
Several mother-calf pairs, including a new one; Sting Ray with her 5th calf! We also had sightings of Molson and calf, and Scratch and calf. Lots of both familiar and unfamiliar whales around stretched up and down the east side of the bank. Unfortunately, weather will limit our number of days at sea from here on in, but for the next 3 weeks our research vessel will give us invaluable coverage!
Friday, October 17, 1997
The humpback whales that were on Jeffreys Ledge appear to have moved off, but Stellwagen Bank remains hot. We have seen a combination of juveniles, mother-calf pairs, and adults. Today we had Cardhu, Reaper, Thalassa, and Colt all in one group, and we've been seeing a lot of Diablo and her calf.
Very sad news - Vague, one of our first time mothers, showed up on Wednesday with major new propellor scars on her back. We'll post some black and white photos of her soon - the wound does not look fatal, but is very deep and wide. Her behavior appeared normal, and her calf is fine.
In addition to the whales, fall birds (gannets and fulmars) are showing up in great numbers!
Wednesday, October 8, 1997
Fall whales are starting to be seen around the area. Strike, an adult male never seen outside October, appeared yesterday for the first time this year! Several new juveniles are being sighted commonly, and we even saw Buckshot for the first time this year with a new calf! Lots of surface activity - breaching and flipper slapping - from the young whales. We also hear that humpback and right whales are starting to appear on Jeffreys Ledge.
There was an entangled minke whale just off of Rockport today, and researchers from the Center for Coastal Studies are working to free it as I write this!
Monday, September 29, 1997
A rainy, windy day here which is keeping us all in the office. Interesting past few days with whales. Juveniles and a few mother-calf pairs appear to be the most common whales - over the weekend we saw almost all small 1-2 year old animals, except for Salt and Cardhu. On 9/26 saw a sad little whale - extremely small, very emaciated, badly scarred - clearly an animal we had never seen before. While it did not look healthy, its behavior was normal, so we can hope for the best.
Had a lot of breaching and other aerial activity yesterday afternoon, with the increasing wind from this weather front. We even saw a breaching minke whale!
Monday, September 22, 1997
We have now officially moved into the fall season, but the whales have not seemed to notice. Since migration does not start for at least another two months, and possibly well beyond that, our whales are continuing about their business. Moderate concentrations around the area, with lots of mother-calf pairs. Just yesterday Leukos' calf and Right Bar's calf were playing together briefly! Leukos calf has become very curious, and has made numerous approaches to our boat in the past several days. We have also seen a lot of aerial activity in the past 4-5 days.
Today we had an influx of juvenile whales, plus two adults that did not look at all familiar! Mothers seen in the past week include Leukos, Right Bar, Vague, Zebra, Molson, and Anvil; other whales include Loon, Valley, Octave, Iota, Fan, Tear, Peninsula, Virgule, Trident, Apostrophe, Fracture, Owl, and many others.
Wednesday, September 17, 1997
Whales have exploded again - in the past three days we have seen some of the best surface feeding of the year. Whales were feeding on large surface schools of sand eels all day Sunday, Monday morning, and again yesterday afternoon. Our research vessel is out all day today, and they have seen nearly 40 humpback whales as I write this!
A few new animals we have not previously seen this year have arrived - Isosceles, Bat (with a calf), Dash-Dot, and several we do not yet recognize. In addition, there are many cow-calf pairs around - in the past few days we have seen Anvil, Compass, Giraffe, Star, Dusky, Bat, and Leukos with their calves. Some of the calves are also starting to feed on their own - Sunday we had Anvil's calf, Compass' calf, and Leukos calf all lunge feeding alongside their mothers!
Other whales we have seen include Tornado, Loon, Reaper, Tear, Icarus, Fracture, Wyoming, Tribble, Owl, Glo, Moray, Cardhu, Little Spot, Pole, and many, many others!
Monday, September 8, 1997
Still lots of whales around - close to forty ID's over the weekend, and more consistent sightings of white sided dolphins than most of this season. Lots of young males chasing mother-calf pairs for some reason; we've seen Skewer (1991 calf of Cardhu) chasing Vague and her calf for almost two days, and both Thread and Sirius (the '82 and '84 calves of Fringe) chasing Anvil and her calf at close range.
The males seem very curious, but the mothers won't let the other whales get anywhere near the calf. Among the whales we have seen: Loon, Clipper and calf, Nile, Sundog, Pawn, Crystal, Thread, Sirius, Ivy, Compass and calf, and many others.
Tuesday, September 2, 1997
Whales are still spread out through the Stellwagen Bank, although we are starting to see surface feeding again. Several of our young-of-the-year calves are feeding on fish regularly now, although they still appear to be nursing as well.
Several new juveniles and adults are around, and we have started to see a lot of Peninsula, the 1985 calf of Silver, for the first time in several years. We also have two long term associations between females - Valley and Octave (about 2 weeks), and Web and Moray (almost 3 weeks now).
Fog has limited visibility in the past four days, but there are still a lot of whales to be found even in the murky conditions!
Thursday, August 28, 1997
Nearing the end of a very busy and rewarding public whale watch season, with months still to go in our research effort. The past several weeks have been dminated by mother-calf pairs. We have seen over 15 pairs on Stellwagen Bank in the past several weeks. Among the surprises: Right Bar, our newest grandmother this year, showed up for a single day with her fourth calf; Vague, a whale seen only 6-7 times in previous years, showed up with her first calf (the only time we have ever seen her in the summer); Lace, one of our old friends; Fringe, with her seventh calf since 1979; and Clipper, Anvil, Zebra, and Compass.
Giraffe, a whale seen a lot in the late '80's but not sighted since the early '90's, has reappeared with a calf heavily scarred by killer whales; a portion of the right fluke is even missing. However, the scars have healed, and the calf has been healthy and active.
Whales are spread out all up and down the Stellwagen Bank, with a few more concentrated on the southern half. Among the other whales we have seen lately include the first sightings in years of both Porcupine and Dash-dot. We have also seen Pole, Bandit, Shark, Echo, Simian, Mural, and others. We have also seen a lot of blue sharks, basking sharks, and jellyfish. We spotted a single sea turtle, and there was even a report of a Great White Shark in the area!
Monday, August 11, 1997
Whales continue to be abundant on the northern half of Stellwagen Bank, although somewhat spread out. Individuals seem to be moving in and out a lot, but there are always whales around the same areas. There are a number of juveniles on the northern edge of Stellwagen Bank, and we saw many adults feeding there on Saturday. Several new cow/calf pairs have been seen in the area - Chimney and calf, Equator and calf, and Zebra and calf have returned.
We had a banner period Thursday and Friday, where we identified close to 70 different whales in two full-day trips! On those days we saw 5 of our 6 Adopt-A-Whales: Cardhu, Cascade, Ember, Colt, and Regulus!
Other whales we have seen include Apostrophe, Tribble, Echo, Icarus, Shark, Crystal (who lost much of his dorsal fin over the winter!), Square Fin, Anchor, Octave, Walrus, Bandit, Fracture, and many others.
Monday, July 28, 1997
 Whales are still spread out up and down the Stellwagen Bank, but seem to be concentrated about 2/3 of the way down - almost 30 feeding whales there today. Some really interesting social behavior with many whales trying to get close to the calves in mother-calf pairs, with the mother constantly blocking them off.
Regulus, the 1983 calf of Bilbo and one of our Adopt-A-Whale animals, showed up yesterday for the first time this year, with a newly damaged dorsal fin. This was probably hurt in breeding battles in the Caribbean over the winter. Whales in the past few days: Colt, Firefly/calf, Clipper/calf, Fracture, Moray, Regulus, Octave, Valley, Tornado, Ase, Alphorn, Timberline.
Friday, July 25, 1997
A rare summer day off the water, thanks to the winds of Hurricane Danny's remnants. This was an interesting week. Monday afternoon we saw one of the largest feeding aggregations in the past year, with over 30 humpback whales grouped up in one spot. The whales had spread out by the next day, and have remained in a distribution more similar to that seen over the past week, in patches of 8-12 animals.
Bandit was doing some interesting "practice" competitive behavior with other young males early in the week; we have also seen Ember doing the same thing several other times this year. Whales seen in the past few days include Octave, Alphorn, Cascade, Tribble, Bandit, Molson and calf, Anvil and calf, Fracture, Nile, Icarus, and Firefly and calf.
Monday, July 21, 1997
Whales continue to be abundant on Stellwagen Bank, but have spread out through the entire Stellwagen Bank, as opposed to concentrating in one area. There are probably close to 60 humpback whales around, but spread in clumps of 8-10 in different portions of the Stellwagen Bank. Bait is still abundant, although we are seeing fewer large surface schools. Adults are mixed with juveniles, and we appear to be seeing a new group of juveniles moving into the area. Whales which we have seen a lot of include Nile, Cascade, Tear, Fracture, Alphorn, Groucho, Coral, Tongs, Cardhu, and Square Fin.
Monday, July 14, 1997
While whales are still abundant, we are not dealing with the super-numbers we were for several weeks. We are still identifying close to 20 humpback whales per day, and have noted the return of Cascade, one of our Adopt-A-Whale animals, for the first time this year. We also seem to be having another influx of unfamiliar animals, although we are still seeing adults like Fracture, Cardhu, Nile, Alphorn, Web, and others. Sand lance is still abundant on the surface, as of yesterday afternoon, with more fin whale lunge feeding occuring.
There has been some strange social behavior; today Fracture, a 7-year old male, appeared to be "guarding" Nile, a 10-year old female, all day.
Monday, July 7, 1997
 The amazing season continues. Our research vessel, Silver II, identified over 50 humpback whales within 10 miles of Gloucester in nly two days of work last week. More mothers with calves showing up - Scratch, Zebra, Firefly, and Anvil all have little ones. And new animals are being sighted almost daily. Fin whales are also still very abundant; WCNE even aided in the life-saving disentanglement of a fin whale last Tuesday.
Whales seen recently include: Filament, Ember, Salt, Cardhu, Thalassa, Tornado, Tigris, Sockeye, Mural, Molson/calf, Anvil/calf, Stub, Anchor, Milky Way, Fracture, Trident, Mirror, and many more too numerous to mention at this time.
Monday, June 30, 1997
Whales have been amazing for the past week. Adults have come flooding in to waters just off of Gloucester. Surface feeding has been abundant, and sand eel schools that are miles long are visible on the surface almost daily. Whales have been unusually close to shore - often only 5-6 miles off the coast. Mother-calf pairs starting to show up in greater numbers - Compass, Molson, Leukos, and Dusky have all returned with calves in the past week!
Friday, June 20, 1997
Adults are arriving regularly - first sightings of the year of Inferno (a female) and Walrus (a male seen since 1979). Bilbo, one of largest (and mellowest) animals also has appeared, still resting most of the time! Surprisingly, whales have been very close to shore - on Tuesday, we had six humpback whales feeding only 3-4 miles offshore, with lots of fin whales as well. Food supply still seems very abundant, with schools of sand eels being seen on the surface almost daily. Humpback whales are also starting to appear on Jeffreys Ledge consistently for the first time this year.
Sat, June 14, 1997
We still have a lot of whales around, but we are starting to see some of the adults mix in with the juveniles. In the past few days, we have seen Colt, Whisk, Salt (just today!), Midnight, Thread, and Tigris. We still have a lot of the young, unknown whales around, and we are seeing more new ones all of the time. There is still much inquisitive behavior from the youngsters.
Monday, June 9, 1997
Still many of the young whales in our area! Virgule, last year's calf of Trident, has returned, but many of the youngsters appear to be new animals. Judging by their size, most are probably less than three years old. We've had several inquisitive approaches to the boat and interesting social activity. Bait is still very abundant, and we had huge surface schools of sand eels many times in the past few days. Reports we have received indicate that many of the adults are feeding further offshore, either in the Great South Channel or on Cashes Ledge.
Monday, June 2, 1997
Humpback whales continue to be abundant, although it is primarily juvenile whales with a few adults. Clipper has shown up with her third calf in five years; Tulip (who had a calf last year) has also been feeding in our area. Otherwise, there appear to be a lot of new, young whales. We have recognized Sparta, the 1996 calf of Square Fin, and Virgule, the 1996 calf of Trident. Many of the other young whales may be known from the past, but we have not had a chance to do a photographic match of many of the others. Reports we have indicate that large numbers of adults are present in the Great South Channel, near Georges Stellwagen Bank, far offshore.
Friday, May 23, 1997
Whales continue to be abundant, but there is defintely a change in the local population. Many of the adults which we had been seeing have left the are, and they have been replaced by small, juvenile humpback whales. Many of these are whales we don't yet recognize in the field, but it is important to see and document them. We have had such a poor return rate of calves for the past several years that it is encouraging to see these young animals return.
These youngsters have been very curious about the boat, especially a new, white- fluked whale we have field coded "9707" (the 7th new whale of 1997). In addition, Sickle showed up with a new calf, her third in four years! We also had reports last weekend of an entangled whale, which was searched for, but never actually located.
Monday, May 12, 1997
The amazing spring continues. On Saturday, we estimated that 30-50 humpback whales could be found in our area. Whales are spread out, so it is hard to get to them all on any given day, but with 15-20 identifications per day, it seems like we are just scratching the surface. Less surface feeding in the past week, but lots of curious approaches and breaching activity from several young whales, most of which we don't recognize in the field. Animals seen: Parens, Owl, Echo, Treasure, Mural, Web, Briar, Shark, Nile, Wyoming, Alphorn, Dyad, Dome, Rocker, and many, many others.
Monday, May 5, 1997
Whales still everywhere. Identified eighteen humpback whales on 5/3, twenty on 5/5. Still lots of surface feeding on sand eels, and they seem to be bigger eels than we were seeing last year. Too early for most of the mother/calf pairs, but adult males are starting to be seen more regularly - Stub, Sabre, Barb, Treasure, Rocker, and Ramp have all been around. We are also seeing more juvenile whales than in any recent year - a good sign! Whales identified on 5/20 include Owl, Sabre, Rocker, Treasure, Parens, Dyad, Fern, Alphorn, Nile, Mural, Tulip, Wyoming, and Tigris.
Monday, April 28, 1997
Whale activity really exploded over the weekend, with 31 different humpback whales being identified, and lots of surface feeding taking place. Relatively few fin whales and minkes, however. Among the identified humpback whales: Staple (first sighting since 1986!!), Mural, Web, Midnight, Pepper and her 1996 calf Zenith (still with its mom), Thread, Fern, Sabre, Pisces (first sightings ever on Stellwagen Bank!), Dome, Dyad, Barnacle Back, Rocker, Ramp, Loon, Trident, and many others who we were able to photograph! Definitely the most activity we have seen in any spring since 1992.
Monday, April 21, 1997
Interesting last week. After all of the activity of the weekend of April 12, things quieted greatly. All we could find on April 15 and 16 were two humpback whales, with very few birds or other evidence of marine life. After the weekend storm, we finally got back out on April 21 - found lots of bird life, prey, but few whales. By the end of the day, three humpback whales had moved in (including Pepper and her 1996 calf, who is still with her!). Today things appeared really active: large surface schools of sand eels everywhere, four humpback whales (including Voltage, Web, and Mural), ten fin whales, and lots of minke whales and harbor porpoises.
This is a great pattern as we approach our 1997 Earth Day Whale Watch, May 3.
Monday, April 7, 1997
Our first weekend on the water was quite rewarding. Lots of feeding fin whales, minke whales, and humpback whales on both Sat. April 5, and Sun. April 6. There appeared to be a lot of bait fish in the area (lots of feeding sea birds), and fin whales were surfacing with their mouths full. Several old friends were seen among the humpback whales: Salt, Echo, Tongs. Hopefully this is an early indication of a busy spring!
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