Despite the rather unfavourable weather forecast it was a lovely morning, sunshine, and still hot and humid. We got coffee and something to eat at the Lunchbox cafe, we had to, and sat eating it on the bench outside in silence. From there we made our way back to the quay to wait for the time to board, and head out once again in search of the whales.
As we sat on the boat waiting to leave as well as the Eider
we had seen yesterday there were one or two Great Black-backed Gulls
As we made our way out of the harbour we passed the many
Double-crested Cormorants on the breakwater.
Before the breakwater was built there were no cormorants present, once
the breakwater was built the cormorants turned up, and as you can see there are
a lot of them now using the rocks.
We cruised alongside the beach, and there were several
Laughing Gulls following the Least and Common Terns.
Common Terns were also coming close to the boat as we headed
out to the Gulf of Maine.
Shearwaters were also picked quite early, the commonest
being the Cory’s gliding by us on stiff wings in that effortless flight.
It did not take long before we encountered a whale, but
rather than the Humpbacks we saw yesterday the first whale was a Finback Whale,
in the area I had seen one yesterday.
Finback Whales behaviour is a lot different to that of the
Humpbacks, they rarely show the tail fluke when diving, and the hunting
behaviour is based on their speed and the ability to lunge into the bait
balls.
The Finback is the second largest whale after the Blue
Whale, to which it is closest related.
Adult whales can grow as large as up to 24 metres long. Finback whales are known as the “Greyhound of
the Sea” as they are the fastest swimmers of all the whales, and were rarely
caught by whalers because of this.
We watched the Finback for a while then moved on, leaving it
lazily moving through the water. We were
accompanied by many Roseate Terns, both adults and juvenile birds, the islands
around the Cape being an important breeding area for this endangered sea bird.
Gannets of different ages were also to be seen, this one
probably a second year bird.
The shearwaters continued to keep me watching, and in
amongst the Cory’s was a Sooty Shearwater, the all dark plumage that gives it the name allowing it to stand out
Then one of the sea birds that always inspires birdwatchers,
a skua, or jaeger as they are known in the United States. This one is a Parasitic Jaeger, or as I
prefer, an Arctic Skua.
All these birds about was a good sign, and sure enough further on we came across a group of more whales, first up
was another Finback, one of two that were in the area.
The whales were attracting the birds, mainly Shearwaters,
these Cory’s and Great, giving the opportunity to show the key identification
differences between the two birds.
After the Finbacks, the Humpbacks turned up, showing the
tail flukes that everyone on the boat wanted to see.
Further away from the boat we could see the sudden splashes from the lunges of
the Finbacks as they raced into the fish, sending a huge amount of the spray
into the air, and attracting the birds to the area.
As they surfaced and sent up a blow you could see the size of
the animal, and the difference in shape from the Humpbacks, long slim and sleek.
The Humpbacks continuing to dive deep around the Finbacks.
The fish that were the target of the Finbacks, were also
bringing in the Humpbacks, and they were adopting the same feeding tactics of
the Finbacks, but a different version of the lunging, which involved just lying there.
After the initial lunge with the mouth wide open, the
Humpback Whale lays in the water, squeezing the water through the baleen
plates, the shearwaters and gulls hanging around to pick up the scraps.
The Humpbacks sinking slowly under the water as it sieved
out the catch.
Once again the Humpbacks could be seen while under the
water, the pectoral fins showing as a bright turquoise beneath the waves
The Humpbacks continuing to dive while the Shearwaters
cruised above them, and as we watched the action I saw a smaller Minke Whale
dive past the bow of the boat, the more sickle shaped dorsal fin diagnostic as
it zipped past, taking advantage of the prey available.
Then as quickly as it started, the fishing eased off, and
the birds began to disperse, the shearwaters resting on the water, such as this
Great Shearwater.
The best was left to last though, this Finback Whale
appearing very close to us, and as it broke the surface you could see the white patch that is on
the side of the mouth and jaw, but only on the right hand side.
Probably the best portrait of a Finback Whale.
When you watch whales the time can seem to fly by, whilst
there was not the spectacular behaviour we saw yesterday, it was engrossing
watching the whales feeding behaviour.
It was a shame we didn’t see the Humpbacks bubble feeding, but talking
with the naturalist on board this feeding tactic has not been seen from Cape
Cod for quite a while.
It was time to head back, and as we left the whales the
birds became once again the focus of attention.
This Great Shearwater coming close to the boat, and in sharp focus.
Then the bird I was hoping to see, not the best photograph,
but before the picture, I did get good views of this Wilson’s Petrel, weaving
in and out of the waves.
The whale encounters though were not over, as we slowed down
to watch a young Humpback close to the beach.
You would imagine this close to the beach the water would be deep enough
to support diving whales, but we were assured by Dennis the naturalist that here the
water is up to 200 feet deep.
There was still time to record yet another shearwater on the
trip, this time a Manx Shearwater, could it have been one of those that was in
its burrow on Skomer when we were there at the end of May.
We made our way back into the quay, passing more terns on
the way. As was pointed out yesterday at
the end of our trip, no whale watch is the same, while this one lacked the
spectacular breaches it was nonetheless a very interesting trip, with
completely different behaviour and two more whale species, Dolphin Fleet trips
never change, they always seem to deliver.
Back in Provincetown, we decided to once again walk down
Commercial Street in search of lunch.
The streets maybe not as manic as yesterday.
We had lunch in a wonderful little bar called the
Nor’easter.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel, where we spent the
afternoon by the pool, a quiet spell in what has been an amazingly busy but
thoroughly enjoyable time back here on Cape Cod.
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