Friday June 8

On Friday we had our annual all-day NH Audubon Pelagic trip.  While we spent the majority of the day in search of birds we also got a chance to sneak in a few whales sightings too! Foggy conditions made finding any life out on the water challenging but at the end of the day we saw quite the variety of marine life including an Ocean sunfish, Minke whales, at least 4 Fin whales, 2 Humpback whales, and 7 large (and sometimes a little crazy) Basking sharks.  Think it is challenging finding whales in the fog, try the task of finding birds in it!  As always our friends with NH Audubon were hardy folks as we ended up with some good pelagic species of the feathery variety.  Feel free to check out http://groups.google.com/group/nhbirds?hl=en&pli=1 for the full listing of birds!  As for the whales, we got to spend some time with them while we were "searching" for birds nearby (to keep the birders happy so we could enjoy the whales for a moment!).  As it seems to be the case both the crew and the passengers have fun with all the birds and whales we encounter.  Even in the fog, and thanks to the R/V Gulf Challenger, we spent a bit of time with a familiar friend to Jeffreys Ledge.  The exciting part was that she had a calf with her. Welcome back to the Ledge Pinball and her calf! 

Pinball and her calf

Pinball

With the internet being such a hub for people everywhere, we learned that Pinball herself had been seen off the Dominican Republic this winter with a calf and were thrilled to see that both whales made the long journey back to the feeding grounds of the Gulf of Maine safe and sound!

Pinball's flipper

Even with all the fog we had a great day with all our friends from NH Audubon; thanks again!