This morning Nile was deep feeding, changing direction and moving around quite quickly. We shared looks with a couple other whale watch boats in the area but were able to get good looks at her surfacing multiple times right near the boat.
As always, Nile was fluking consistently and she was even doing a bit of bubble feeding. Passengers saw plenty of northern gannets (both brown juveniles and clean white adults) and even witnessed one of these pelagic birds dive. It was a bit windy out there on the bank, but I heard no complaints (free AC).
 |
| Nile going down on a dive: You can get a really good look at the scar on her peduncle from a previous entanglement. That gave passengers a first-hand look at the damage entanglement in fishing gear can cause. |
This afternoon we headed down to the same spot. The weather couldn’t have been more different than the morning, wind and big waves and a huge thunderstorm threatening. Once again, Nile was taking quick trips to the surface, only staying up for a breath or two. She surfaced right next to the boat at one point and gave the passengers a great look. We even had an exciting trip home, going through a large thunderstorm out on the water!
 |
| In this photo, you can only see a tiny bit of Nile’s right dorsal side. Whale watch boats don’t need to see Nile’s fluke to recognize her at this point. We’ve seen her enough lately to know the distinct hooked or curved dorsal fin on her back and that it tilts to the right. Nile has a white scar on the right side of her dorsal fin as well. Another distinguishing mark on this side of the whale is the dimple-like scar that is from a previous satellite tag. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment