Humpback Whales
(Megaptera novaeangliae)

Sunday 15 October 2000
The weather was spectacular on Sunday -- sunny and unseasonably warm. We had lunch outside near Long Wharf and Christopher Columbus Park. The only thing on our itinerary for the afternoon was whale watching. Of course, I was also hopeful of seeing a life pelagic bird or two. Boston's Waterfront is busy on beautiful afternoons. There are restaurants, the aquarium, and harbor tours. Several whale watching services also operate from that locale, ferrying passengers on large, fast catamarans to Stellwagen Bank, a sizeable submarine plateau of relatively shallow water (65 -100 feet) about 25 miles east of Boston. The bank was formed some 18,000 years ago by receding glaciers. The topography results is an upwelling of nutrients on currents from the deeper surrounding water. The nutrients attract small animals. The small animals attract larger animals. And so on. Pretty soon, all this activity catches the interest of the largest animals ever to exist on this planet - whales. The bank provides feeding grounds for several species of cetaceans, including Humpback and Minke Whales and White-sided Dolphins, all of which we encountered on our trip to the bank.

 
 
Humpback Whales are black and white whales that grow to 52 feet and 30 - 50 tons. In the picture at left (click it for larger image) the predominantly white pectoral fins of these two whales can be seen beneath the surface. Unlike Orcas, Sperm Whales, or dolphins, humpbacks have baleen rather than teeth. The baleen is used to filter small fish and krill from huge gulps of water taken in while feeding. During the hour we were privileged to remain among the pod, we observed more than 15 Humpback Whales employing various feeding strategies, including lunge feeding, lob tailing, and bubble netting. These huge, seemingly gentle creatures also entertained us with an eerie trumpeting, one of their various vocalizations.

We also saw seven or eight smaller and more elusive Minke Whales and four White-sided Dolphins during our excursion. Perhaps largely unnoticed by the other eager whale watchers, were Greater Shearwaters (13), Black Guillemots (22), White-winged Scoters (150+), scoter sp., jaeger sp., Common Loons (4) and Northern Gannets (10).

Whale Photographs:
 
Is there any wonder why they're called humpbacks?

Individual whales can be identified by the unique patterns of white on the underside of their flukes, as evidenced by these three whales: flukes 1 flukes 2 flukes 3

Here a whale has just surfaced and the huge amount of water it has just gulped can be seen to have expanded the grooves on its throat as it spills out through the baleen plates hanging from the upper jaw. A more dramatic example of the amount of water taken in and the extent that the throat expands is apparent in the lunge feeding of these two whales.

Humpbacks slap their pectoral fins and tails on the water, either to communicate with other whales or to confuse and herd schooling fish on which they are feeding. The tail slapping is referred to as lob tailing.

Like all baleen whales, humpbacks have two blowholes, and their blow, or spout, is a double stream of spray.

Part of the pod.

Our trip to Stellwagen Bank aboard Boston Harbor Cruises' NORA VITTORIA was undoubtedly one of the most exhilarating three hours we have ever experienced. Anyone visiting Boston, or any of the various east and west coast areas from which whale watching vessels depart, should not miss an opportunity to be among these majestic creatures.

After unwinding over a beer in the hotel lobby and a short rest in our room, we took a relaxed stroll from our hotel past the Boston Common to Davio's, a small, quiet restaurant in a Back Bay brownstone at 269 Newbury St. Denise had a salad and a pasta with shrimp. I had a delicious soup of pureed roasted apples, pears, turnips and butternut squash, and, for an entrée, a homemade ravioli stuffed with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes in a tomato-fennel cream sauce. The Chianti was a Liliano. We both recommend Davio's and a walk on Newbury St..

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