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Wed Sept 9 – Whale Watching

Our preantepenultimate trip (4th from last) did not disappoint us. We traveled eastward at first to an area where we’ve regularly seen Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins and found several groups of 20-25 each. After a while with the dolphins we decided to head W  to eventually turn to the SW to encounter calmer seas and look for juvenile humpback whales (those under 12 m) and we found them. As usual in nearshore shallow waters, but surprisingly spending long dive times to capture the prey at/near the sea floor. We spent a long time heading west towards the  Nappeague Stretch and Amagansett. Our 1st humpback was one that had been seen the day before and calmly went aout feeding and breathing as we watched, photographed, and collected data. We headed back to the east only to be stopped by a multiply breaching juvenile humpback whale. Full body breaches, partrtial breaches, tail throws, and more. In fact just about every time that  I (Dr. Artie Kopelman) began to speak and mentioned the work ‘breach,’ the whale BREACHED! Easily over 15 times. I spoke of one I met in the Great South Channel back in 2003 that bereached 145 consecutive times until I stopped counting.  It was a great trip after all!

 

  • 60-75 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
  • 2 humpback whales
  • 40 Cory’s shearwaters
  • 35 Great shearwaters
  • 50 Manx shearwaters
  • 30 Wilson’s storm petrels

Whale tail above water with ocean waves. A whale's fluke partially submerged near a beach with a distant shoreline. Whale fluke emerging from the ocean surface. Whale tail diving in ocean near a sandy shore. Whale tail emerging from the ocean near a sandy shoreline. Humpback whale dorsal fin visible above ocean surface. Whale partially submerged in ocean waves, only part of its body is visible. Dolphins swimming in the ocean with visible splashes.

 

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