Sun May 30- Whale Watching

Our first humpback of the season!
For our second trip of the season, we sailed along the shoreline following an abundance of prey (bait) in
the region in the hopes that cetaceans (whales and dolphins) might be found feeding there. On this last
day of May, the wind and chill of spring were still present, but as we braved the cold, we were awarded
with various sightings of numerous terns, immature northern gannets, common loons, Wilson’s storm
petrels, and at least one shearwater. We decided to turn south and head to an area farther from shore
to search. Along the whale, a sharp-eyed volunteer observed a single fin in the water which we quickly
investigated. As expected, that fin belonged to an ocean sunfish, Mola mola, resting and warming itself
at the surface after likely feeding at depth. We were able to spend some time alongside this wildly
unique fish affording passengers excellent views. We moved on to continue our search and found two
blows in the distance belonging to a small humpback whale, our first of the season! This whale spent a
few minutes at a time beneath the surface moving large distances between blows. As we were waiting,
the young whale surprised us all by surfacing directly next to the vessel to the delight of those onboard.
Even those on the opposite side of the boat could clearly hear the loud exhalation of the blow, and we
were able to capture photos of its dorsal fin in the hopes that we might be able to match this individual
to others in our humpback whale catalog or to others in the region. CRESLI photo-identifies humpback
whales and has documented 272 unique individuals since 2009 aboard Viking whale watches.
Documenting individuals helps scientists understand how long and how often humpbacks occur in the
waters off Montauk. This individual also adds to our understanding of habitat usage by humpbacks
contributing to 34 years of sightings data in the eastern New York Bight. The season is young and we are
just getting started – book your trip with us today!
1 humpback whale (presumably a juvenile)
1 ocean sunfish (Mola mola)
8-12* immature Northern gannets
2* common loons
10-12* Wilson’s storm petrels
1 shearwater (unknown species)
*bird counts are conservative and based only on confirmed sightings by naturalist