Hello everyone,
Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine here with some updates from our past 2 weeks. It has been a great end of August and beginning of September with great sightings of fin whales, humpbacks and minke whales. The harbour porpoise and seals always put big smiles on our passengers faces as well!
I wanted to share lots of pictures from the past few weeks
humpback on a deep dive – image by Danielle Dion
Chevron breaching – image by Danielle Dion
Chevron breaching – image by Danielle Dion
grey seals – image by Danielle Dion
grey seals – image by Danielle Dion
grey seals – image by Danielle Dion
grey seals – image by Danielle Dion
grey seals – image by Danielle Dion
our first Mola mola, ocean sunfish, sighting of the 2024 season
humpback blow – image by Danielle Dion
active young humpback – image by Danielle Dion
young humpback – image by Danielle Dion
young humpback with a unique shape to the flukes – image by Danielle Dion
humpback – image by Danielle Dion
lunge feeding humpback off Eastport, ME – image by Danielle Dion
lunge feeding humpback off Eastport, ME – image by Danielle Dion
We have been lucky enough to also see some surface activity from the humpbacks in the area so I wanted to share some video clips. There’s not better time of day or season to see breaching and other surface activity, and they whales are not performing for the boat, we are simply lucky enough to witness their natural behaviour in the wild. Whales can breach for a number or believed reasons including to knock external parasites like barnacles off their body, to communicate from whale to whale, to stun prey and for reasons which we don’t understand (which I LOVE, they deserve their mysteries).
On a more serious note we have had THREE humpbacks in our area entangled over the past few weeks including Cork and Chevron (Chevron remains entangled with gear in this mouth). On 2 occasions we stood by the whales until the Campobello Whale Rescue Team could arrive. It was a very emotional experience but incredibly important as it’s much easier for the rescue team to find us (and therefore the whale) than for them to have to search for a whale.
If you are on the water in the Maritimes and you see a dead marine mammal or a marine mammal in distress please call the Marine Animal Response Society at 1-866-567-6277
This is Cork thrashing at the surface trying to get herself out of the gear wrapped around her tail. This was incredibly hard for me to witness as I have spent more than 20 years with her, to see her struggle, the sound of her exhale, was a lot. I am so grateful she shed the gear on her own – image by Danielle Dion
The Campobello Whale Rescue Team assessing the entanglement of a young humpback – image by Danielle Dion
Thank You for checking in today, as always please check and LIKE our Facebook Page for daily sighting updates,
Cheers,
Danielle
Senior Naturalist
Quoddy Link Marine
Whale Watching
St. Andrews, NB
Bay of Fundy
