Whale watching out of Bar Harbor, Maine, USA September 24th 2024.

 

I've been fortunate to lead a recent Naturetrek tour entitled "Autumn colours of New England" which took in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire.

Here are photos and chat about our whale watching day...more updates to follow about the 'autumn colours'.

 

One of the highlights of the 14 day tour was a pre-booked whale watching trip from Bar Harbor in Acadia National Park, Maine. We were sweating on whether the boat would go as a heavy swell in the north eastern Atlantic had caused them to cancel the 3 days prior to our booking and even then we had warnings that it could get quite rough once out of the bay. But we were in luck and the large catamaran left dock at 11 am and once out in the ocean ploughed into a head wind at 30 knots. We all had our hoods up and huddled in as the wind in our faces was very strong and indeed uncomfortable. But we were hardened wildlife watchers and whilst we could have gone downstairs in the warm cabin we stayed up on deck looking for a first sighting of a whale or any wildlife to be fair!

There was a very knowledgeable marine ecologist giving a commentary and we learnt an awful lot in a short space of time. We spotted Harbour Porpoise, Short-beaked Common Dolphins and Atlantic White-sided Dolphins on our 60 mile journey north into Canadian waters.

All types of vessels were enjoying the area and this huge cruise liner was moored in the bay.

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

 As we pressed on father toward the Bay of Fundy with Nova Scotia in the far distance most of our phones started buzzing with "Welcome to Canada" showing us we had entered into Canadian waters. Suddenly our other leader Martin Pitt shouted out that he'd seen a "blow" from a whale in the distance and we all kept our eyes peeled. We reached an area of white water where we were told there was an up-welling of water where the depth changed from 600 feet to 200 feet and this was where the whales like to feed.

All of a sudden we had 2 whales on our port side and as they started to show themselves they were identified as rare Northern Right Whales. So rare that it is estimated there are only about 350 left in the world. The skipper powered back and we drifted along always keeping our distance from them but they came quite close and displayed by head popping and diving to show their tail flukes. This was a "mega moment" in my marine watching life and they displayed for about 30 mins until we moved on to look for other sightings.

Distinctive 'blow' from a Northern Right whale

 

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

Northern Right whale

Northern Right whale

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

Northern Right whale

2 Northern Right whales

 

As we left the Northern Rights we motored on and started spotting both Humpback and Fin whales.

There were 'blows' all around us and several animals came close to the boat to check us out. 

We counted 3 Fin whales, the 2nd largest animal on earth after the Blue whale and it was an amazing experience to look down from the upper deck onto these huge creatures.

Fin whale

Fin whale

 

It was estimated that we saw between 12 and 15 individual Humpbacks and we didn't know where to look as they blew and dived showing their tail flukes in every direction we looked.

Here are just a few of the many images I captured on the day.....

Humpback whale

 

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Humpback whales

Humpback whales

Humpback whales

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

Humpback whale

 

After spending approximately 90 minutes in close proximity to these animals it was time to take the long trek back to port. I must add that the tour was both educational and ethical with all whales left to  forage and feed without any pressure from the boat. Everyone was elated and the journey back didn't seem so bad as we also had the wind behind us so it was a more pleasurable passage than on the way out. Very few birds were seen but here are a couple of the better ones.

Possible Common Tern

Pomarine Jaeger or Skua to us Brits

Back into sheltered waters

 

I can highly recommend Bar Harbor Whale watching Company if you get up to Acadia  and Naturetrek tours run this as part of their "Autumn Colours of New England" tour annually.

Osprey on the River Camel Aug/Sept 2024

  

About a month ago a juvenile Osprey arrived near Wadebridge and started to hangout near Target pool, visible from the Camel Trail  1 mile marker just beyond Pendavey bridge on the Wadebridge - Bodmin section of the disused railway line that is now a major tourist attraction.
The bird looked to be roosting in the tall oaks above the river but having watched it intently recently I think it's roosting elsewhere and only flying in at first light to perch up and preen.
Because a similar Osprey used the same trees last autumn it was automatically assumed it was the same bird but looking at the plumage it's almost certainly 2 different juvenile birds.
Last years bird would normally have stayed in its winter quarters in West Africa for at least the first year and sometimes 2 years.

So these trees and the undisturbed bit of the river must prove attractive to Ospreys on their Southerly migration. There's no doubt that there is plenty of food as its been seen taking mullet regularly and there have been many hundred fish in that short section of River during late summer although numbers have dropped off rapidly in the past week despite huge Equinox spring tides.

I've spent many hours in a small canvas hide in various places including the  middle of  blackthorn copse with my cameras but still failed to get any shots of it with fish, although others have been luckier in that respect.
In order to prevent any disturbance I approached my hide in darkness, often starting at 5am, and never left until the bird had flown off. It's not in my interest to disturb it as obviously I won't get any views or photographs!
By sitting and watching this bird for long periods of time I was privileged to record lots of intimate behaviour, especially so when it was preening or falling asleep on the perch with its eyes gradually closing and the third eyelids passing across the eyes.

One of the funniest moments was after it had had a failed dive & it flew to it's favourite dead elm but instead of landing on the central trunk it tried to land on a dead branch at speed.
The branch snapped off at the node with the trunk and both Osprey and branch went tumbling through the air with a loud crack!
That was enough for the bird, it flew off looking most indignant or maybe embarrassed and I never saw it again that morning.
Here is a selection of photographs I've taken , sometimes many in one session but also sometimes none at all after 4 cold and dark hours on the riverbank.
We do have to suffer for our art...... but the rewards are fantastic,  just watching these iconic birds at close quarters is amazing.

As an aside there are plans to build an Osprey nesting platform in the near vicinity very soon using the cut off electricity poles by the river... watch this space!

Bit of a sh*t shot ha!

Falmouth pelagic boat trips 27th & 28th July 2024.

 

Common Dolphin

I've been leading a few pelagic boat trips for Naturetrek Wildlife Holidays in the past few years and these 2 single day trips were packed full of wildlife!

We were aboard the "Spirit of our seas", a brand new catamaran skippered by CK, Captain Keith and out of the Falmouth deep water estuary and into Falmouth Bay. "If it's out there Keith will find it!".

Very knowledgeable crew members were Fen on the Saturday & Alex on the Sunday, Thanks guys!

Spirit of our seas.

On both tours we encountered Harbour Porpoise just close in the bay with Mediterranean Gulls bobbing on the tops of the waves.

Harbour Porpoise

Med Gull

A few Kittiwakes were in the bay with an occasional Razorbill or Guillemot being sighted.

Kittiwake

 

On the Saturday we headed south-west toward the Lizard Point often hugging the shore picking out Grey Seals off of Porthoustock and Coverack, dodging the pinnacle rocks of the infamous Manacles Reef before heading out to the south to pick up the flight path of the pelagic birds between the Dodman point and the lizard.

The skipper was always watching for "mix-ups" or "work-ups" on the horizon where birds were feeding or tuna and dolphins were dashing around creating a white water frenzy.

When he spotted one it was everyone back to their seats and the throttle opened up to get out a few miles and look for wildlife. When nearby he would kill the revs and we would hang off the feeding spectacle and wait for them to come to us or us to drift toward them. That way they don't get spooked and all the clients get to see all that's on offer.

The Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna are huge fish and they seem to surround their prey in a circle and when you watch them you can see hundreds of small fish (sprats) leaping from the water to escape the predatory fish and gulls.

Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna

Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna

Here's a short video clip of the tuna frenzy taken on my phone....

 

Of course where there are small fish there are always lots of seabirds and the sea was buzzing with Gannets, Shearwaters and Gulls.

The Shearwaters consisted of the numerous Manx, along with many Great, Cory's and Sooties.

Here are a few images of them taken over the weekend trips....

 

A composite of diving Gannets.

 

Gannet taking off

Gannet just getting airborne

Adult Gannet

Manx Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmar

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

 

Another bird that gave us a run around was an Arctic Skua of which I only got some shots of its rear end as it flew off but luckily one of our group got some better shots to positively ID it.

Arctic Skua

Another cracking bird was this Wilson's Storm Petrel, first identified as a European Stormie, subsequent looking showed it to be a Wilson's.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Wilson's Storm Petrel

 

 

The fly past of a flock of Common Scoter was another highlight despite being a long way off but easily identifiable.

 

Common Scoter

On both days we caught up with Common Dolphins and often they stayed around the boat for many hours. Here are a few images ....

Common Dolphins

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

 

Common Dolphins

 

 

 So as you can see an amazing wildlife adventure!

Naturetrek are running a few more pelagics from Falmouth in the coming weeks with availability on some of the trips.

If you're interested then here is the link for information...

Naturetrek Falmouth Pelagic day tours.