Saturday, July 24, 2010

Fantastic day on the Bay of Fundy







Hi Everyone
Yesterday was Brier Island Whale & Seabird Cruises 24th Anniversary so they had three whale watch cruises at half price for people to come on board and celebrate their anniversary date. On the morning trip we had three different species of whales.A mother and calf Humpback whale, Minke Whales, and a Fin Whale in an area 4 or 5 miles off Brier Island. This area is where ledges act as a biological pump and food gathers there and so do the whales sometime. Keep in mind they can be anywhere out there so not just in the ledge areas, we were lucky to find them so close to the Island. Lots of birds in this area also. Flocks of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, Northern Gannets, Greater Shearwaters, the occational Sooty Shearwater, Puffins, and we sighted a common Murre fly by.
On our afternoon cruise we sighted a mother and calf Humpback whale. The mother we identified as Flash, who is a regular visitor to the Bay of Fundy area. The calf was is learning how to feed and was practicing yesterday by bubble netting. This is when the blow a stream of bubble underneath their prey to concentrate them in a tighter ball. It looks like boiling water on the surface. She was curious of the boat and did a couple close approaches turning to have a closer look at us. We also sighted Tigris an adult humpback male who was having an afternoon siesta. We call this logging, their breathing pattern slows and they rest on the surface of the water just like a log! He woke up for a brief minute turned on his side to look at us then promptly went back to sleep! The highlight was sighting a magnificient frigatebird. See posting on the frigatebird below.
On our Sunset cruise we went to the same area and sighted Flash and her calf again only this time the calf was very active. It was flipper slapping and tail lobbing and breached a couple of times! Mom even slaped her pectoral fins on the surface. As we watched another humpback whale named Baton joined them. IN the distance i could see another humpback coming over to join them also. We ID the fourth whale as Puppet.Clouds of phalaropes were in the tidal streaks, and many Greater Shearwaters and Northern Gannets were in the area also.
All in all a fantastic day on the Bay of Fundy!

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

I was on the evening one! Can't believe how well you got the one of the baby breaching! You are an awesome photographer! Thanks for making the trip one to never forget!