2003 July Trip Report Archive Week ending 27 July 2003 - More
interesting animals around this week, as well! Sei whales and Northern Right whales have
been around along with several humpback whales, minkes and fin whales! The sei whales and
right whales are known for feeding on a type of animal plankton called copepods. Very neat
to see these whale species that are usually so much further north at this time of year! On
the 22nd we spent time with humpback whales Pepper and calf - a most wonderful little
calf. Very playful, we watched this robust baby whale playing on the surface for some
time! Center for Oceanic Research and Education 3-Day Canyons Whale and Bird Expedition Trip Report: This trip started the night of July 13th at 10pm. After travelling all night long, by daybreak the next day, we were heading Southeast over Georges Bank and finally off the Continental Shelf. The second day, July 14th was spent looking through Georges and our first two Canyons (Lydonia and Gilbert). The night of the 15th we tied off to a deep water lobster buoy (in about 1000 feet of water!) at the Western edge of Gilbert Canyon. The second day, the 15th of July, we searched through Gilbert Canyon, and proceeded west into the canyons that followed including Oceanographer's, Welker's and finally Hydrographer's. We slowly worked north during the night of the 15th, to spend our remaining day in the waters east and southeast of Cape Cod (roughly the western portion of the Great South Channel) where we had heard that many humpback whales had been feeding. We were sucessful in so many ways, it's hard to imagine we saw all of the following whale, bird and marine animal species. Truly a special time... Whales and Dolphins included: (species in bold are particularly special!) 3 Sperm whales, 2 Beaked whales (a Mesoplodon species), 4-5 Northern Right Whales, 31-32 Humpback whales, 18 Fin whales, 5-6 Minke whales. 28-35 Pilot whales, 4-5 unknown baleen whales, 200-260 Bottlenose dolphins, 540-680 Risso's dolphins, 61-70 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, 13-15 Common dolphinsBirds included: (species in bold are particularly special!) 16 Cory's shearwaters, 4050+ Greater shearwaters, 770+ Sooty shearwaters, 7 Manx shearwaters. 9000+ Wilson's storm-petrels, 130+ Leach's storm-petrels, 1 White-faced storm-petrel, 1 Bridled Tern, 2 Arctic Terns, 1 Parasitic Jaeger, 1 South Polar Skua, 1 Red-billed tropicbird, 10-11 Northern Gannets Other Marine Animals sighted: 22-23 Basking sharks, 15 Ocean Sunfish, 6 Blue sharks, 1 Leatherback Turtle, 2 Portuguese Man o' War, Many Tuna (yellowfin), Many Flying Fish! Week ending 20 July 2003 - A little bit of everything to report! Exciting species were seen this week including 3 Northern Right Whales on the 14th and more Pilot Whales on the 18th! Along with the "exotic" animals, we also had our regular species around, including minkes, fin whales and a number of humpbacks. On a few of the trips we were seeing as many as 8 or 10 humpback whales! The beautiful Atlantic white-sided dolphins also made and appearance on the 19th - they're always a welcome sight!Bird sightings picked up this week with a few more Greater and Sooty shearwaters than last week, many more Wilson's storm-petrels, a few Gannets, and a couple Common Terns. Otherwise, our regular birds like the Greater black-backed gulls, Herring gulls, Double-crested cormorants, Snowy & Great egrets, Common Eiders, Canada Geese and Mute Swans remain steady in number. Week ending 13 July 2003 - Another week of unexpected changes...This time around it's Pilot whales who were the stars! Really amazing - these creatures are supposed to be around 200 miles offshore at this time of year! (I guess they don't read the whale manuals!). Anyway, we saw a few small groups of pilot whales nearly every day this past week - most exciting were the calves breaching (very cute!) and some curiosity behavior by a group of four or five of them who spent several minutes "looking" at our boat! Also, not to be forgotten, we had sightings of fin whales and minke whales to make our trips complete. The best lesson we've learned is that one never knows what might be over the horizon. The ocean always holds some surprises! Bird sightings were down again this week - a few more greater shearwaters than last week, a few more Wilson's storm-petrels, a few Gannets, and a couple Common Terns. Otherwise, our regular birds like the Greater black-backed gulls, Herring gulls, Double-crested cormorants, Snowy & Great egrets, Common Eiders, Canada Geese and Mute Swans remain steady in number. Week ending 06 July 2003 - Well, here we go again with more and more changes! Fin whales are the stars this week - with some very exciting lunge feeding observed and a behavior that can only be described as "surfing" seen! We watched this whale rising to the surface - again and again, lifting its tail inside the large waves rolling by, and being shot forward by the front of the waves! The whale's timing was just perfect - it really appeared that it was taking advantage of the waves to give him a boost! Very interesting! While we only had spotty humpback whale sightings, the word on the grapevine is that several humpback whales are making their way inshore...Hopefully we'll be seeing them soon! There were not many birds around this past week. The big news is a Puffin sighting on July 2nd!! Very unusual considering the warm weather we've been experiencing! Our regulars were still in great number, Greater black-backed gulls, Herring gulls, and Double-crested cormorants. We also observed Common Eiders, two pairs of Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets. There were very few Northern Gannets and Wilson's storm-petrels, and only a couple Greater Shearwaters.
**Sightings with asterisks are courtesy a network of researchers including: Jooke Robbins, Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA; Regina Asmutis, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Plymouth, MA; Katherine Gilmour, New England Aquarium, Boston, MA; Allison Glass, Whale Center for New England, Gloucester, MA; Cynde Bierman, Whale Conservation Institute, Gloucester, MA; Jen Hafner, Blue Ocean Society, Rye, NH and Lisa Foerster-Fox, Center for Oceanic Research and Education, Essex, MA.
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