Hello everyone, well, the larger part of the 2010 Gulf of Maine Humpback naming is now over and all of the unknowns are now have names and are not just numbers. I have the privilege of naming 9 more whales which makes a total of 22 for this part of the naming event. We still have to name the resighted calves (we have 4 from the last season) but that will not be done until October at the earliest.
I will start with the 3 unknowns that we saw during our 2009 season, and I got to name the first 2....YEAH :) So I would like to introduce
Harmonic
Bijoux
and
Lyrids
The other 6 from this group were sighted elsewhere in the Gulf of Maine, the first was sighted by our friends across the Bay at Brier Island Whale and Seabird Cruises...so I would like you to meet
Gymnast
Borderline
Marimba
Chock
Oblique
Cannellini
and
Stalasso
Thanks for checking in and thanks to all those who sent suggestions for names. You can still suggest names for our 4 previously sighted calves.
Hey everyone, just wanted to share that we had a great day on the water today with finback whales on both of our trips!!
On our 10:00 am departure we sent our Scout boat out to help search some offshore areas and was so happy to hear that they found 2 large fin whales on a shallow area called the Wolves Bank!! We got some great looks before the wind started to pick up out of the southwest.
On our afternoon trip we spent time with 3 minke whales just inside Head Harbour Passage and we were starting our run up the shoreline of Campobello towards Nancy Head to see what we could find when we got a call from a fellow whale watcher out of St. Andrews, Fundy Tide Runners, that they found a fin whale off Blacks Harbour so made our way over and got some great looks in the choppy conditions.
The pictures below are both from the morning trip (notice the calm seas).
Thanks for checking in, we have 2 trips tomorrow for Canada Day
Hello everyone, what a great trip we had today. We had our first fin whale sighting of the 2010 season, and we only officially started whale watching on Saturday!
Below are 2 pictures I took today of the finback we found off Blacks Harbour. It was a calm day and John decided to run us off towards Blacks Harbour to have a look and catch the end of the flood tide and are we ever happy that he did. On the second picture you can see the single rostral rigde that fin whales have as "he" approached the boat....and then went right underneath and out on the other side!
After we spent a while with the finback we headed over to Whitehorse Island to check out some bird colonies.
Here are some nesting black-legged kittiwakes
This is a young double-crested cormourant drying it's feather, these birds lack oil in their feathers and in order to dry them off they spread them wind in the breeze.
John decided to take a swing by East Quoddy and we found 2 minke whales and one was "Slice"
Thanks so much for checking in today...they are calling for great weather tomorrow and we have 2 trips scheduled. Check back soon
Hello everyone, we officially begab our 2010 whale watching season today with 2 great trips on the Bay. On both trips we spent time with minke whales (3 on our 10:00 am departure and 4 on our 2:00 pm), seals, harbour porpoise, bald eagles and we saw some diving gannets on our afternoon trip as well.
My boyfriend Rob was a passenger on the boat today and he took over my camera so I wanted to share a bunch of his pictures from today with you all,
First, here are 4 different minke whales that we saw today, you can see that their dorsal fins are unique and in the case of the last one, has no dorsal. This whale was injured at some point, there is some very light scarring but is just fine now without a dorsal fin.....we are affectionately referring this this minke as Slice.
Here I am showing a sample of minke whale baleen to some passengers...well, Rob had me pose and take a photo after I explained the baleen.
We also had a great sighting of a small shark, there are lots of sharks in the Bay but we don't often see them at the surface.
We spotted this mature bald eagle on Spruce Island, there was another mature and a young eagle there as well.
We stopped off Fish Island to have a look at an aquaculture site. Here is a worker feeding the young salmon.
And finally I wanted to share a series of pictures with you, these are harbour seals, we stopped at Casco Bay Island on the afternoon ebbing tide to visit with both harbour and grey seals. Seals will haul out on reefs at low tide to rest and here you can see a harbour seal going back into the water....and as we often see they may not be very graceful.
Thanks for checking in today, stay in touch for more sightings,
Hey everyone, just wanted to do a quick post and let you all know that I am back in St. Andrews now and we have our first official whale watch on this Saturday, June 26th (for info on prices and times just give the office a call at 1-877-688-2600).
Also, round 2 of the 2010 Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming has come to an end and I got to name 8 more whales (these are whales that were sighted in the Gulf of Maine but none of them by Quoddy Link Marine, our unknowns will have great names by July 1st and I will be sure to keep you all posted).
So...I would like to introduce the humpbacks that I got to names...
Balance
Chrysalis Duck
Lanula
Piscator
Clarinet Hippocampus
and this is Highball
Thanks for checking in and I will let you know how Saturday goes,
Hello everyone, I got some great news from Jolinne yesterday....they were out on a chartered tour and they spotted the first minke whale of the season inshore. Below is a picture that Jolinne took yesterday (this is Jolinne's 3rd season with Quoddy Link, she is seasoned naturalist with an extensive marine biology background as well as being a certified SCUBA instructor)
Sightings also include bald eagles, harbour porpoise and lots of seals (both harbour and grey). Below is another photo that Jolinne sent from the trip yesterday, one of the many reefs at low tide among the Fundy Isles that seals haul out on.
Thanks for checking in...our whale watching season does not officially begin until the 26th of June but if you are in St. Andrews and want to get out on the water in the next few weeks check out our friends at Fundy Tide Runners.
I hope that you have all had a great winter and that spring and sprung in your hometown. I wanted to share with you all that the Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming is well under way and Round 1 is now over and I have had the privilege to name 5 whales during this round. The round included "unknown whales" but not the whales that we saw during our 2009 season. The whales in the Bay of Fundy belong to a much larger group of North Atlantic humpbacks that spend their feeding season in the Gulf of Maine.
Below are the 5 whales that I got to name during Round 1
Flute
Sapling
Screwdriver
Trench
Archery
I will keep you posted as the naming continues and let you know when the 7 whales from our 2009 season get their new names .
Our whale watching season officially begins on June 26th but if you are in St. Andrews before the end of June and you want to get out on the Bay check out Fundy Tide Runners, the are running nature cruises and seeing lots of seals, porpoise and eagles and even though it's a little early for whales you never know when the first sighting will be.
Hey everyone, just wanted to share some great news....Spoon, a large female humpback first sighted in 1979 has been seen with a calf off the coast of Massachusetts. We spent time with Spoon on October 5th and 6th of the 2009 season.
Thanks for checking in, the whale naming is still in process and I will let you know when I hear something.
Hello everyone, I am still naming whales...there are more than 165 whales to name year!! Here are the unknowns that we saw this season that are up for naming. If you have any ideas just send me an email or comment here, I would love to hear from you
The previously sighted calves that we saw last season still need names so please check out the previous post, the one just before the Easter wish for the pictures and the rules for naming.
The 2010 season is just around the corner and if you have plans to join us this summer and if you have any questions send me an email, you can also check us out on facebook and Twitter (the links are on the right hand side of the blog)
I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Easter, have a great weekend with your family and friends.
The 2010 Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming Event is still going on so if you have any suggestions for the calves let me know and next week I will the post the 3 Unknowns that we saw that are in need of some great names :)
Hello everyone!! Well, it's that time of year again, time to name the young returning calves and new "unknown" humpbacks in the Gulf of Maine. I have been part of the naming for the past 4 years and last year I had the chance to name 12 whales! How the naming now works is researchers and naturalists from the Gulf of Maine area (including us up here in the Bay of Fundy) submit names and after a submission period we can vote online and the name with the greatest number of votes wins....it's that easy and it's fun! I really enjoy being a part of this process and I consider it an honour to be able to give these whales a great name.
This year we are starting with the previously sighted humpback calves. These are calves that were born in 2008 or earlier and have been recorded on the summer feeding grounds without their mom. I have mentioned how they name whales many times before on the blog but here is all of the information again...
Humpbacks are named based on the black and white pigmentation on the underside of their fluke (tail). Basically you want to look for an obvious patter or black mark (they will use the "negative" white make but we really prefer a strong black marking) and think of a name, usually an noun...but not always. There are some rule when naming humpbacks
- Each name can only be used once - Names can not be gender specific....so even if you think of a name like "Daisy" because you see a flower patter on the tail that name will not be choosen because it is also a female's name. - Must be for a mark on the tail (sometimes the dorsal fin or the trailing edge of the fluke) and not a specific event related to the whale. - No brand names aloud...humpbacks will not be used for advertising
and
- the names should be short and one word
Here are the previously sighted calves that Quoddy Link saw during the 2009 season and they currently need some great names...
Touchdown 2008 calf
Teather 2008 calf
Spar 2008 calf
and
Clamp 2008 calf
If you want to submit names...YEAH...either post them here or email me (danielle.m.dion@hotmail.com) and I will let you know if the name has been used already and if I can submit it on your behalf.
Stay tuned for more whales that need some names, we have 3 unknowns that will also need some names.
Hello all, the time is coming near for the 2010 Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming Event and as the researchers at Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies pour through all of the images they have to catalog some of the whales are getting ID'ed...including one of our unknowns. The whale below was seen on September 17th as well on a fall survey on our Scout Boat. This whale has been ID'ed as Chevron, a young whale that we don't know much about.
I will post pictures of the whales that need names once I am sure...right now there are 7 humpbacks up for naming that we saw during our 2009 season.
Just wanted to share this blog with you, the Adopt Right Whale News from Laurie Murison from the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, just click on the logo below and check out Laurie's blog. We, Quoddy Link, keep in touch with Laurie all season, sharing siting information and Laurie is a huge help with IDing any humpback and right whale sighting.
Hello everyone! Well, now that the season is really officially over and the boats are put to bed for the season I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who joined us during this unforgettable season. It was most certainly one I will never forget.
Probably the most special part of the season was the amount of time that we were able spend with the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. These whales, whose world wide population is now estimated at around 415, are commonly found in the Bay of Fundy from mid July-October, but typically on their critical feeding grounds, around the Grand Manan Basin in middle of the mouth of the Bay. This season, for about 1.5 weeks the very end of August and the beginning of September there were a number of right whales who made their way much closer to St. Andrews. There were about 10 individuals, including 2 mom/calf pairs documented between the Wolves and the Northern tip of Campobello Island and about 40 individuals documented behind the Wolves. We also had the chance to do a very special right whale trip that took us ~40 miles from St. Andrews directly out into the middle of the old shipping lanes (they were moved in order to protect the North Atlantic right whale) where we were surrounded by an estimated 40+ right whales (the next day, which was clear and had great visibility, in the same area where we were there were approximately 75-100 right whales seen). To spend this time with right whales and to see the scars and injuries caused by ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement had a great effect on me, shocked me every single time I saw these scars....these whales deserve so much more from us and we need to find a way to help these whales and preserve a struggling fishing industry at the same time. If you want to read more about this check out the book Entanglements: The Intertwined Fates of Whales and Fisherman.
I wanted to share 2 videos from out trips this season with right whales.
This is Tips, RW1124, an adult male first documented in the Bay in 1980. We spent 4 trips with Tips and every time we saw curiosity like this...we fell in LOVE with Tips this season.
This video is a SAG, a Surface Active Group. SAG's are often seen with right whales and here on feeding grounds SAG's are a courtship behaviour involving a single, focal female and a number of males. The whale on her back in the video, with her belly up is the female. SAG's on feeding grounds are not for conception.
If you want to see more video and pictures from our trips this season with North Atlantic right whales scroll back through this blog. Also, for more right whale info check out rightwhale.ca
Our time spent with right whales was limited to a very small part of our 2009 season....it was just such a memorable part for me but from the middle of August until the end of our season we spent time with the most recognizable and probably the most loved of all the large whales, the humpback. Part of whale we do at Quoddy is photo ID, this means that when we see humpbacks we always try our very best to get a good shot of underside of the fluke (tail)....and with right whales we try our best to photograph the callosity pattern on the head and we send the photographs down to the New England Aquarium. With humpbacks they are individually ID'ed by the pigmentation on the underside of the fluke, the black and white patterns and then given names on those patterns. This season we documented the most number of humpbacks, 34, since we have been keeping track in 2004. With humpbacks there were a number of highlights....seeing Cork again, a 7 year old female we are so fond of at Quoddy Link....seeing a number adults, including Spoon, known to be incredibly BIG....and 2 mom and calf pairs! This was the first season in my 8 years with Quoddy that we have documented a mom/calf humpback pair in our part of the Bay of Fundy and it was incredible!
Here is a list of the humpbacks we saw during the 2009 season.
Arrowhead - a male first seen in 1976, Quoddy also saw in 2007 Blanco - a female and the 1989 calf of Asterisk, Quoddy also saw in 2007 Clamp '08 calf Colorado - a female first seen in 1998 Colorado '09 calf - the 2009 calf of Colorado Cord - a female and the 2002 calf of Bungee Cork - a female and the 2002 calf of Mica, seen by Quoddy every season since 2004 Crystal - a male and the 1980 calf of Salt EKG - seen by Quoddy every season since 2006 (was an unknown) Flyer - a male first seen in 1979 Grand Manan - a male and the 2002 calf of Fundy Inlet - seen by Quoddy in 2008 (was an unknown) Jigger Mahjong - the 2007 calf of Lacey Meristem - seen by Quoddy in 2008 (was an unknown) Notchy - a male first seen in 1981 Patchwork - a male first seen in 1997 Pike - the 2007 calf of Six, seen by Quoddy in 2008 Platform - a female first seen in 1997 Quarternote - a male and the 2001 calf of Buckshot, seen by Quoddy in 2005 and 2006 Siphon- a female first seen in 1992, 6 known calves Siphon '09 calf - a female and the 2009 calf of Siphon Sodapop Sonogram - a female and the 2004 calf of Peedee, seen by Quoddy in 2006 Spar '08 calf - the 2008 calf of Spar Spinnaker - a female born in 2004, seen by Quoddy since 2007 Spoon - a female first seen in 1979 Teather '08 calf - the 2008 calf of Teather Tornado - a female and the 1981 calf of Fringe Touchdown '08 calf - the 2008 calf of Touchdown and 4 unknowns
The 4 unknowns and the 2008 calves will be put up for naming next spring, I will do a separate post for whale naming so please get your thinking caps on! We need to think of some great names.
Below are a few videos of humpbacks from the 2009 season...
This in one of the unknowns that will be put up for naming next spring and was also our first humpback sighting in 2009
This is Cork playing in rockweed
This is Patchwork
These 2 videos are of Siphon, her precious baby girl and Crystal
And this season was not only amazing for humpbacks and right whales but we had so many trips with incredible fin whale sightings, many right of East Quoddy Head Light and some amazing lunge feeding minke whale sightings as well as bluefin tuna! Take a look back through the blog for lots of photos and more videos from the 2009 season.
The season was one that we will never forget, we saw the most number and variety of whales CLOSE TO HOME that John has ever seen...it was such a special season.
The one thing that Jolinne and myself really wanted to do this season was to make sure that people "got it"...to make sure that they understood the privilege of spending the time with the whales. You know, not everyone "got it" but the people that did....they really "got it" and that's why I do my job. Thank You to everyone who shared with us your excitement and awe of the whales...thank you for emailing me with your kind words....thank you for reading this blog and thank you for the flowers!
Keep in touch with the blog and on Twitter and Facebook. I will post whale sightings from breeding grounds and share interesting links.
Hello all, I just wanted to let you know that one of the unknowns that John, Jolinne and myself saw on our fall survey has been ID'ed...this is the 2008 calf of Spar
With this ID it brings the number of whales that we saw this season that are going to need names next spring to 8 so get your thinking caps on and I will keep you posted as the 2010 Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming Event gets close.
Thanks for checking in and thanks to all those who sent suggestions for names. You can still suggest names for our 4 previously sighted calves.
