Summer temperatures were in full effect to start the week. A perfect time to go on a boat to Jeffreys Ledge to enjoy some wildlife and be surrounded by cooler temperatures. On both our trips on Monday we started with Satula the humpback whale. Thanks for continuing to remain in our area chowing down on plenty of fish Satula.
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| Satula |
In the morning we found a newcomer to the area, humpback whale Wigwam. We also came across humpback whale Sedge during our travels home.
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Humpback diving
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In the afternoon, numerous humpback whales were on the ledge with some flipper slapping, a few breaching and lots of familiar tails. Identified whales include Jawa, Clamp, Valley and Tripod.
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Humpback flipper
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| Tripod |
Valley was an extra important sighting as this whale was found entangled in gear earlier this season south of our area. Story here. Many thanks to the brave and skillful large whale disentanglement crew at the Center for Coastal Studies (permitted and trained!) to successfully disentangle this adult female. This sighting is a big milestone in tracking her current status post-entanglement and another reason how beneficial collecting research works across numerous platforms and organizations in the Gulf of Maine.
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| Valley |
We are grateful to those who do such dangerous work for the whales as it is not a solution to the problem, just providing help to already distressed wild animals.
Sea conditions were just right on Tuesday morning- enough breeze to cool you down but otherwise calm seas. The morning started with an ocean sunfish before continuing offshore.
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Ocean sunfish
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We spent time with two of the three humpback whales sighted. Wigwam provided quite a spectacular surprise and look who is still around? PINBALL!!!
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Wigwam breaching!
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| Pinball |
As if that wasn't enough, we checked out a pod of 40-50 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on our travels home. These toothed-whales were mainly lollygagging around aiding to capture some great looks at this pod.
From Naturalist Dianna: Tuesday afternoon, we found at least 6 humpback whales and a minke whale!
In addition to the whales seen on the morning trip, we also had our
first sighting of the season of humpback whales named Spoon and
Chromosome!
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Welcome to the area Chromosome!
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At points during the trip, we could look in any direction
and see a whale! It was certainly a beautiful day to be offshore and
away from the heat.
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One of the numerous humpback whales in the area
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Pinball
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Wednesday continued with more sightings and more warm land-based temperatures. On both trips we saw an ocean sunfish, a minke whale (or two), and a few humpback whales.
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Afternoon ocean sunfish
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Humpback whale at the surface
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While on Jeffreys Ledge during our morning trip we came across Wigwam, Tripod and Valley. A small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins were also traveling through the area.
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| Valley |
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| Dolphins |
In the afternoon, humpback whales Spoon and Chromosome were found. So fun to see familiar whales being their wild whaley selves!
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| Spoon |
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| Chromosome |
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