1987 First Meeting with Talon 6/20/87
Early summer weather in the Gulf of Maine can be very unpredictable. By June 20th we had only managed to get out 5 times, even though the boat started operating in late May. On three of those days (June 16th , 18th and 19th), we saw three well known females feeding and traveling together in different configurations. They were interested in each other and so didn't interact with us. That was fine with me, I love to hang back and watch interactions amongst the whales themselves, but many passengers were restless, wanting a "close encounter" of the Disney kind.
Well on the 20th of June a "close encounter" was exactly what we had! The day got off to a slow start... for the first hour and a half we watched a mature whale busily feeding. We stayed with it through 5 diving cycles: it would be down for 7 or 8 minutes, come up for 2 minutes and blow 6 to 9 times before diving again. The captain could see clumps of feed on the "feed finder" at about 310 feet below the surface.
After a while we were distracted by a finback who blew once and disappeared (they swim so fast, they can cover great distances under water) but it drew us further south and there we saw a whale breach twice!
In between breaches, it would come to the surface and blow, then roll over on its back and "tail wag", flailing its fluke vigorously back and forth.
It looked "tiny" if you can call a 15' animal that. We were guessing it was a calf, but where was its mother?! We worried after seeing it alone for over ten minutes. To make matters worse, a fishing boat came steaming right across the little whale's path and we were frantic until we saw it pop up again in boats wake and wheeze blow (a loud wheezing exhalation which is thought express alarm or annoyance). The whale went back to waving its flukes in the air as if nothing had happened and the people on the boat cheered in relief.
We watched the activities of this little whale for a least 15 minutes and still there was no sign of a second animal. We were pretty convinced by its size and wobbly movements that is was a calf and it was worrisome that it was on its own so early in its first year. Calves are born in January or February and leave the warm Caribbean water to migrate north with their mothers in March and April. Some go to the eastern North Atlantic but most will arrive in the western North Atlantic by May or June. This calf was, at most, 6 months old... just a "toddler" with lots to learn still before it was weaned (some stay with their moms for a year, sometimes two years)!
Suddenly a large whale popped up and blew right beside the boat, welcomed by shrieks from the startled passengers. "I'm here!" A man with polarized sunglasses said later he had noticed a dark shape underneath the calf through most of the those 15 minutes when we thought it was alone. It seemed the mother was giving her youngster plenty of opportunity to explore and learn, with as little interruption as possible but she was standing by to make sure it was safe. As a former nursery school teacher I had great respect for what I interpreted as her parenting technique: "learning by doing".
As she slid alongside the boat she showed us her distinctive dorsal... it was Talon!! It was very exciting to see her with her first calf, for many reasons. First, Talon's lineage and life history were well known since she had been seen as a calf in 1981 with her mother Sinestra. This helped confirm that Humpback females are mature at around 7 years old. We also knew that Sinestra was a grandmother to this little one. On a more personal level many whale watch boats had been befriended by Talon when she was a calf and were very curious to see how her behavior would change with the responsibilities of motherhood.
We wondered if Talon would allow her calf to interact with whale watch boats. She had been quite a "cut up" as a "kid" and her mother Sinestra had been pretty tolerant. It was interesting to see that she, in turn, seemed to tolerate the antics of her calf.
The calf found us fascinating, and in close company with its mother, circled us many times. The encounter lasted two hours. There was so much going on that I just put down my camera and watched. I did manage to get some sketchy notes:
"1434 (2:34 p.m.) both whales come up close together near our bow. The calf "wags" its fluke, slashing back and forth just below the surface of the water. Then they do a deep dive side by side. Talon "flukes up" but the calf didn't fluke enough to get a good picture. Is it still too young, buoyant or weak to dive deeply?
1438 the calf pops up again and blows, then lies just below the surface of the water for 7 minutes. Everybody is totally silent and fascinated as they watch.
1445 the calf comes up to blow and sinks back down again.
1450 both Talon and the calf are up briefly, blow a couple of times and dive again this time both bring up their flukes. (I just watched, my camera on the other side of the boat, rats).
1450-1458 the two are down for eight minutes then come up very close to the port side of the boat.
1500-1550 The calf stays just below the surface where we can easily see it then comes up and circles us. It tailwags repeatedly and each time the passengers cheer. Then it lies perpendicular to us, almost touching the boat with its nose (rostrum). It drifts slowly around the boat rolling on its side showing a fluke, thus giving us a "mug shot" that can be used in the Humpback whale catalog to identify it in the future. We clearly see its eye as it looks up at us. (It is always breathtaking and moving to be caught in a whale's gaze.)
All the while, Talon's dark shape, like a huge shadow drifts along just beneath the calf. The two dive under the boat and come up on the other side three times, causing us to stampede across following them. People become self conscious, laughing at themselves and wondering both what we sound like to the two whales under the water, and if they are diving back and forth to repeat the effect." (end of my notes)
Finally they seemed they get bored, dove deeply off our stern and headed away. The captain never followed a whale when it choose to leave us.... he valued their privacy very highly and did everything possible to protect it. This is one sign of a good captain, another is that he or she will not approach whales any closer than the prescribed distance, rather, they will stop outside that distance and wait for the whales to approach them.
Well on the 20th of June a "close encounter" was exactly what we had! The day got off to a slow start... for the first hour and a half we watched a mature whale busily feeding. We stayed with it through 5 diving cycles: it would be down for 7 or 8 minutes, come up for 2 minutes and blow 6 to 9 times before diving again. The captain could see clumps of feed on the "feed finder" at about 310 feet below the surface.
After a while we were distracted by a finback who blew once and disappeared (they swim so fast, they can cover great distances under water) but it drew us further south and there we saw a whale breach twice!
In between breaches, it would come to the surface and blow, then roll over on its back and "tail wag", flailing its fluke vigorously back and forth.
It looked "tiny" if you can call a 15' animal that. We were guessing it was a calf, but where was its mother?! We worried after seeing it alone for over ten minutes. To make matters worse, a fishing boat came steaming right across the little whale's path and we were frantic until we saw it pop up again in boats wake and wheeze blow (a loud wheezing exhalation which is thought express alarm or annoyance). The whale went back to waving its flukes in the air as if nothing had happened and the people on the boat cheered in relief.
We watched the activities of this little whale for a least 15 minutes and still there was no sign of a second animal. We were pretty convinced by its size and wobbly movements that is was a calf and it was worrisome that it was on its own so early in its first year. Calves are born in January or February and leave the warm Caribbean water to migrate north with their mothers in March and April. Some go to the eastern North Atlantic but most will arrive in the western North Atlantic by May or June. This calf was, at most, 6 months old... just a "toddler" with lots to learn still before it was weaned (some stay with their moms for a year, sometimes two years)!
Suddenly a large whale popped up and blew right beside the boat, welcomed by shrieks from the startled passengers. "I'm here!" A man with polarized sunglasses said later he had noticed a dark shape underneath the calf through most of the those 15 minutes when we thought it was alone. It seemed the mother was giving her youngster plenty of opportunity to explore and learn, with as little interruption as possible but she was standing by to make sure it was safe. As a former nursery school teacher I had great respect for what I interpreted as her parenting technique: "learning by doing".
As she slid alongside the boat she showed us her distinctive dorsal... it was Talon!! It was very exciting to see her with her first calf, for many reasons. First, Talon's lineage and life history were well known since she had been seen as a calf in 1981 with her mother Sinestra. This helped confirm that Humpback females are mature at around 7 years old. We also knew that Sinestra was a grandmother to this little one. On a more personal level many whale watch boats had been befriended by Talon when she was a calf and were very curious to see how her behavior would change with the responsibilities of motherhood.
We wondered if Talon would allow her calf to interact with whale watch boats. She had been quite a "cut up" as a "kid" and her mother Sinestra had been pretty tolerant. It was interesting to see that she, in turn, seemed to tolerate the antics of her calf.
The calf found us fascinating, and in close company with its mother, circled us many times. The encounter lasted two hours. There was so much going on that I just put down my camera and watched. I did manage to get some sketchy notes:
"1434 (2:34 p.m.) both whales come up close together near our bow. The calf "wags" its fluke, slashing back and forth just below the surface of the water. Then they do a deep dive side by side. Talon "flukes up" but the calf didn't fluke enough to get a good picture. Is it still too young, buoyant or weak to dive deeply?
1438 the calf pops up again and blows, then lies just below the surface of the water for 7 minutes. Everybody is totally silent and fascinated as they watch.
1445 the calf comes up to blow and sinks back down again.
1450 both Talon and the calf are up briefly, blow a couple of times and dive again this time both bring up their flukes. (I just watched, my camera on the other side of the boat, rats).
1450-1458 the two are down for eight minutes then come up very close to the port side of the boat.
1500-1550 The calf stays just below the surface where we can easily see it then comes up and circles us. It tailwags repeatedly and each time the passengers cheer. Then it lies perpendicular to us, almost touching the boat with its nose (rostrum). It drifts slowly around the boat rolling on its side showing a fluke, thus giving us a "mug shot" that can be used in the Humpback whale catalog to identify it in the future. We clearly see its eye as it looks up at us. (It is always breathtaking and moving to be caught in a whale's gaze.)
All the while, Talon's dark shape, like a huge shadow drifts along just beneath the calf. The two dive under the boat and come up on the other side three times, causing us to stampede across following them. People become self conscious, laughing at themselves and wondering both what we sound like to the two whales under the water, and if they are diving back and forth to repeat the effect." (end of my notes)
Finally they seemed they get bored, dove deeply off our stern and headed away. The captain never followed a whale when it choose to leave us.... he valued their privacy very highly and did everything possible to protect it. This is one sign of a good captain, another is that he or she will not approach whales any closer than the prescribed distance, rather, they will stop outside that distance and wait for the whales to approach them.
1 Comments:
Hi there, just wandering the blogosphere and I found your blog. I really enjoy how this all works.
This is one to watch.
Many thanks,
B.S. in Electrical Engineering LPN Online Degree
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