On this morning's whale watch aboard the Asteria, we headed back to SW corner to find scattered bubble net feeding and breaching behaviors of about 12-15 humpbacks.

The sea birds know where the good eats are at!

One of our feeding groups included Geometry, Yoo Hoo, Osprey, Weathervane, and Eraser making repeated spiral bubble nets – we also had Milkweed and her calf in this mix early on, with her calf milling around at the surface while mom fed with the group. The gulls today especially seemed to swarm in high numbers today. At any given time, we had 1-2 other bubble nets around us in the distance – and also had a calf breaching repeatedly even farther away.

Breaching calf with herring gulls

Our big feeding group eventually became a feeding frenzy of 7-9 humpbacks, and we wrapped up our final looks of the group with spectacular open mouth feeding (see photos of Geometry, Yoo Hoo, and Osprey). What made it even more spectacular was a double breach of Nile and her calf in the distance! We wrapped up the trip by getting looks of our earlier breaching calf – which turned out to be Echo’s (see herring gull’s humpback calf photobomb photo).

Open mouth feeding

Another wonderful (but windy!) day!

This afternoon, we headed out to the southwest corner and found the usual large groups of humpback whales. There were many groups and we got the chance to see quite a few different animals but we mainly stayed with Cajun, Wizard and Wizard’s calf.

Wizard and calf

The calf was very playful, doing tons of tail lobs which meant I got a lot of good pictures of this juvenile’s tail for future fluke matching!

Echo kicks

We also got a see a big group of Geometry, Osprey, Daffodil and Echo and calf doing big bubble rings and kick feeding! And another number of animals that I wasn’t able to identify like the picture of a mother and calf. There was tons of activity, bubble rings, breaches, kick feeding going on in every direction that it was a truly great trip!

Unknown mother and calf

— Laura and Tegen

On our first trip this morning, we set out bright and early for Stellwagen Bank. The first whales we came across were Vulture and her calf accompanied by Osprey. Vulture and Osprey displayed beautiful open mouth feeding behavior while the subdued calf swam nearby. Shortly after we arrived, Daffodil and Grackle joined the group. Soon Grackle wondered away and Tongs and her calf, who spent a lot of time right near the boat, joined the group.

Osprey and Eraser feeding

As the whales fed, I was astounded by the size difference between Vulture and Daffodil. Looking at their heads and jaws as the two lunged side by side out of the water, it appeared that Daffodil was about half the size of Vulture. While Vulture was first seen in 1988, we know she is at least 26 but are not certain quite how old she is. Females being larger than males, she is one of the largest humpbacks I have seen. Daffodil, on the other hand, is only eight years old. She definitely has some growing to do; nonetheless, she is an exceptionally small whale. Just like some people are naturally much taller than others, some whales will grow to be larger than others. Even as they took a dive to start another round of bubble feeding, the size difference in their flukes was obvious.

Vulture and Daffodil drawing a crowd of seagulls

Arriving at the surface with a mouthful of fish and sea water

Pleats fully extended

Among the many feeding groups in the area, Yoo hoo and Measles were also feeding very close by. Throughout the scattered feeding groups were a few minkes and a fin whale who swam about 50 yards off our bow. We even saw two humpbacks in a nearby group do a double breach which was a fantastic end to a great trip.

This afternoon the groups seemed a little more scattered than they had been earlier in the day. We first watched Eraser and Osprey feeding who were eventually joined by Samara and Aswan. We had especially amazing looks of Eraser and Osprey when they created a bubble net right at our stern!

We watched as the water poured out of one Eraser’s mouth.

One of the highlights of our trip was a seagull eating sand lance right off one of their backs!

As we wondered around the feeding whales, we also saw Hancock, Rocker, Geometry, Amulet, and finally, Tornado and her calf.

Tongs and calf

It was another wonderful day out on Stellwagen Bank!

Tasia, Naturalist and Photographer

Today was the best whale watch I have seen this season thus far!

Acrobatic calf breaches

We headed out towards the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank on the Asteria and saw three humpback blows in the area.  We passed a single traveling humpback to go directly towards Tornado and her calf, who started flipper slapping, tail slashing, and rolling around at the surface.  The calf was being very playful right next to our boat and Tornado gave us wonderful close up views as they went right under our bow and fluking right next to the boat.  There were two humpbacks traveling together in a deliberate southeast direction and closely passed Tornado and her calf.  Tornado and her calf started milling and slowing down their behavior when I noticed a lot of commotion in the distance. About 4 miles north of us near mid-bank I could see at least 8 different blows with a lot of white water and numerous birds. This was a great indication of a lot of feeding activity!  We left Tornado and her calf to go investigate all the commotion.

Synchronized fluking

I was so excited to see that we found a highly productive area on Stellwagen Bank that seemed to attract 12-15 humpbacks, a couple of minke whales, and hundreds of gulls and shearwaters. We first stopped on a whale named Milkweed, born to Trident, with her calf by her side  Trident is a very popular whale on Stellwagen because she is one of our largest females in the population and had her first calf at only 5 years of age!  Milkweed and her calf came very close to our boat and were giving trumpet blows, an indication of pure excitement. The calf was rolling at the surface while Pleats came right over and started feeding next to Milkweed.

Feeding frenzy—humpbacks and seabirds both in on the action

About 300 yards away there was a large group of 6 whales feeding together, along with two pairs of humpbacks, and 2-3 singles in a 2 mile radius, making it a feeding frenzy!  The main group of whales were using shared bubble nets and consisted of Cajun, Geometry, Springboard, Daffodil, Vulture, and Eraser.  Vulture’s calf stayed about 50 yards away from all the feeding commotion and decided it was a good idea to start breaching!




We had simultaneous aerial activity from the calf including head breaches, full spinning head breaches, tail breaches, back breaches, and chin slaps, all while our large group was feeding open mouth!  It was overwhelming to decide which direction was the best place to look! Pepper was seen kick-feeding about ¼ mile away with another humpback, as well as Orbit. There were other humpbacks feeding in the area and one conducted lob-tails in the distance.  Milkweed, her calf, and Pleats followed into the area and Milkweed joined the large group to share some bubble clouds. I also think a couple of humpbacks snuck in on a few bubble nets and quickly split, making it difficult to ID them. There were about 6-8 whales moving in and out of this feeding group at a given time. All the humpbacks were diving so quickly to continue trapping the sand lance and there were 150-200 gulls and shearwaters following them to get their share of the meal. It was definitely a successful feeding frenzy out there today!

A nice look at the ventral pleats on a hungry humpback whale

Two feeding humpbacks. On one, you have a chance to see some expanded ventral pleats on it’s lower jaw. And with the other, you can see many of it’s baleen plates.

In total, we saw 3 mother calf pairs, 2-3 minke whales, and 12-15 humpback whales.  The only activity we didn’t see today was sleeping, and I think everyone was OK with that!

This afternoon, we headed out on the Asteria towards the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank where dozens of whales have been enjoying a daily banquet of sand lance. As we approached the bank, our intern Sam and I scanned the horizon in search of activity. Tracking maybe eight to ten spouts along the horizon, we zeroed in on where the largest groups of feeding whales appeared to be. The commotion created by the feeding humpbacks must have also caught the attention of two large fin whales in the area who steadily cruised alongside us.

Sand lance flying

Big gulp

Approaching the feeding group with the most bird activity, we were not surprised to find Osprey and Pleats who have been two of our many regulars over the past few weeks. The third whale, however was a mystery to us. We later IDed the whale as Eraser! While the trio was pretty calm upon our arrival, things heat up very quickly! These whales began repeatedly lunging out of the water directly next to the boat. Sand lance flew from their mouths as they lunged through the school of fish (see photo). I got the impression that maybe the sand lance were actually trying to hide beneath the Asteria for shelter based on how close the bubble clouds were to the boat (see photo).

Baleen and big mouths full of water and fish

Impressive bubble cloud

Eventually, a nearby trio joined powers with our trio and began creating enormous bubble nets! Again, two of them were regulars (Samara and Aswan), but one I did not recognize. I found it very interesting that these were all single whales. We have seen many mothers with their calves just about every day but, today they were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, they were in one of the nearby groups so we will continue to see them in the coming days.



After looking very closely at my photos while trying to ID the two unknowns, I noticed that one of them had a recent entanglement injury on its peduncle. Whales will often become wrapped and entangled in fixed fishing gear such as lobster pots and gill nets. The freshness of the wound indicates that the entanglement most likely occurred within the past few days or so. Sometimes they can free themselves of the entanglements but, other times entanglements inhibit them from feeding freely. The deep gauges can also cause infection which may lead to death. It’s great to see that Weathervane, this second unknown, was triumphant in freeing itself. This scar will become evidence of one of possibly many entanglements this whale will encounter throughout its life.

Entanglement injury along the tail of Weathervane

At one point during today's feeding frenzy, a young man on the port pulpit even got a selfie with Osprey!

— Tasia, photos and naturalist