Whale, Redux

On a recent Whale Watch, I saw a few Humpbacks, known to visit Jeffries Ledge, and Stellwagen Bank. They are known as Spoon, Valley, and Bungee, three mature humpbacks, loosely traveling in a pod. They feed here, around the waters off Cape Cod, because of the rich nutrients and upwelling, combined with the sunlight, to attract their favorite, copepods and krill, as well as herring, sandeels, mackerel, and plankton.

When we first saw the three, they were Logging. Logging is when a whale sleeps (sort of). It seems motionless, and lays still in the ocean, just under the surface. Whales breathing is not autonomic, meaning, they must think to breath. So, when a whale sleeps, it rests one side, one half of the brain, in order to remember to breath. Fairly soon, the three whales were on the move, diving and playing.

the Three Humpback Whales, (From the Greek: Megaptera novaeangliae: meaning big fucking Tail) Spoon, Valley, and Bungee, have been seen traveling together and hanging around the Ledge, lately.

Tails up!



Bungee beings a Deep dive, characterized, by the vertical tail at the last moment, pointing the whale straight to the briny deep!

The Humpback Whale in my profile pic is Winrose. By the way, the White pattern, on the underside of a Humpback, is like a fingerprint. No two are alike... so, rather than call a whale by some obscure catalog number, Scientists give the whales a generic name (usually, whales are named before data is collected on gender).



Whales typically have a calf, during their breeding years about every two years. they have the Calf down in the warm Caribbean, nurse them, exclusively, then, make the trip up to New England, and feed on the rich marine life around our waters. Last year was very unusual for Bungee. She had a calf. not odd, except, she had a calf in 2017, too.
She's becoming rather prolific, for the Stellwagen Banks population.


On our trip, we saw Minke Whales, Humpback Whales, and even a Right Whale. We saw some grey seals, Atlantic White Sided Dolphins, feeding alongside some diving Gannets.

More of my Whale Images

Always, I strive to give back
To the animals and birds around me
to put more plants in than I take out
And be a good steward for the world around me!

All Photos by Bluefin Studios

!steemitworldmap 42.629902 lat -70.516703 long Whale Watching d3scr