Minkes, humpbacks, finbacks & sharks..... oh my!

This was one of the best weekends to be out on the boat yet this season! It was sunny, fairly warm out in the sun, and the sea conditions were almost perfect minus a small SE swell. We headed out of the Kennebunk River around noon towards Jeffreys Ledge where there were previous sightings of whales earlier in the week. Jeffreys Ledge is an area where animals such as Humpbacks, Finwhales, Minke, and Sei Whales, frequent during the months of May through October to feed on herring, krill, and sand lance. On our way, some passengers spotted a Minke Whale and 2 Basking Sharks! Basking sharks get their name from their most common behavior, of feeding at the surface where it apprears to be "basking". The shark does not have teeth as it is what we call a "Vegetarian Shark." It feeds by swimming with its large jaw open while plankton gets filtered through its gills containing gill rakers that "rake" the plankton from the salt water. The shark that we saw was rather large and we got a good look at it as it swam underneath the boat. A little while later, we came up apon 2 sleeping Humpback whales and quite a few Minke Whales swimming/feeding the same general area. After a few minutes of watching these two Humpbacks, they decided to wake up and dive down below the surface, feeding on the same things that the Minke Whales were probably feeding on. When Humpbacks raise their flukes in order to dive below the surface, their provide not only a beautiful picture that everyone wants, but it also allows us to be able to photograph the markings on the underside of the tail to help identify each whale. Each Humpback whale has a specific pigmentation pattern on the underside of the fluke, similar to our own finger print. A non-profit organization called Allied Whale started researching the natural markings on Humpbacks in the 1970's as a way to destinguish between different individuals, monitor migration, health, and particular behaviors of each whale. Over the years, over 6,000 individual Humpback Whales have been identified and some have even been given a name. After watching the whales for a while, we were soon able to identify the Humpbacks based on their black and white pigmentation on their fluke or tail. We were watching a Humpback named Spoon and Sabot! Because of the research that Allied Whale conducts, information is gathered on the individual whales over time. Sabot was first seen in 1990. She is know to be a female as she has been seen with a calf. Since 1970, she has been sighted at least 6 times in the Gulf of Maine. Spoon if known to be a female as she was spotted with a calf last year. However, due to unforseen events, she was later sighted without her calf that same summer. While we were watching these whales, the captain also spotted numerous other whales in the distance. We left our "sleeping" whales to catch up on their beauty sleep and headed about a mile south to find the other whales. We came across another Humpback. With the help of a passenger we were able to identify the whale named Owl. This whale is well known in this area. She was born in 1986 and has been sighted at least 15 years. She is a know female and has a calf named Falco. Also in the area feeding was a Finback Whale, but as these whales travel very fast, we did not get a great look at it. The overall trip was a great sucess! Not only did we see a variety of species but we were also able to learn about the particular Humpbacks that were sighted! Look for more information on photo-identification and more sightings to come!