Humpback Whales

The Right Whale for Whale Watching
The Northern Right Whale was named because it was the animal early whalers considered the right whale for killing. It provided good oil and was easy to catch because it floated after it was killed. Today the name of the game is whale watching and the right whale to watch is the Humpback Whale. It is slow moving, does not seem to mind boats and puts on a good performance of surface activities. Most birders enjoy natural history in general and you can share whale watching with your children and other non-birders. Taking one or more trips on a whale watching boat is one of the best ways to see the birds on Stellwagen Bank.

Some of the activities you can observe and photograph are: tail lifts, flipper slapping, head lifts, breaching, bubble feeding, and tail slapping. While not all behaviors are observed on every trip, you can easily take more than one trip. No two trips are ever alike and seldom are they boring.

The Blow
Whales are mammals and breath air. When they surface from a dive, they expel the air and water in their nostrils located on the top of the head. This is the called the blow. At the beginning of the trip, the naturalist will scan the horizon looking for a blow which can be seen from a considerable distance.

When you get closer to the whale you will be able to hear as well as see the blow and if the wind is in the right direction expect a whiff of fish smelling whale breath. Sometimes the whales make an even lounder noise when they breath called a trumpet.

The Dive
When a Humpback Whale dives, it usually arches its back and starts rolling forward. Get your camera ready and watch for the small dorsal fin. Humpback whales have small lumpy dorsal fins.

Tail Lifts After the dorsal fin disappears hold on few seconds and usually the whale will lift its tail just long enough for one good shot Once a whale dives you can put the camera down as it won't resurface for a number of minutes and probably will come up some distance from where it went down

Footprints
When a whale dives it makes mighty up and down thrusts with its tail. This causes the water pushed by the tail to well up to the surface forming slick spots known as whale footprints. Sometimes a series of footprints marks the path the whale is taking underwater. You can do this yourself in the swimming pool with your feet, but your footprints will not last as long as those made by a whale.

Flipper Slapping Humpback whale pectoral fins or flippers generally have a considerable amount of white on the underside and can be up to 15 feet long. Sometimes a whale will float on the surface while repeatedly slapping one of the flippers on the water as this whale is doing.

Tail Slapping Another popular activity for photographers is tail slapping or lobtailing. The whale lifts its tail out of the water and slaps the water. This behavior is usually repeated several times and seems to be associated with feeding. Tail slapping often attracts birds and dolphins.