HUMPBACK WHALES BACK IN SOUND AND STRAITS Back from near - TopicsExpress

HUMPBACK WHALES BACK IN SOUND AND STRAITS Back from near extinction, humpback whales are showing up in Puget Sound and Northwest straits in numbers not seen for decades. “Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are surfacing throughout the Sound and Straits, providing whale watchers a spectacular show and environmentalists, researchers and marine mammal scientists an up-close look at an extraordinary conservation success story,” writes the Pacific Whale Watch Association in a press release. “We had up to five humpbacks here for about ten days in May,” reports Tom Averna of Deer Harbor Charters on Orcas Island. “And we’re continuing to see them into June. I don’t recall having humpbacks in the Islands like this in the 25 years I’ve been running trips.” Oh, heck. Here’s the full press release: Once Hunted Out in Local Waters, Pacific Whale Watch Association Captains and Naturalists Now Reporting an Explosion of Humpback Whale Sightings, Spectacular Behavior The Pacific Northwest is considered killer whale country, but for the last several weeks in these waters, it’s been all-humpback, all-the-time. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are surfacing throughout the Sound and Straits, providing whale watchers a spectacular show and environmentalists, researchers and marine mammal scientists an up-close look at an extraordinary conservation success story. “These sightings of humpback whales are really encouraging,” said marine zoologist Anna Hall, PhD, Science Advisor to the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA). “The population of southern British Columbia and northern Washington State was locally destroyed by commercial whaling about 20 years ago, and now they’re not only back in these waters, they’ve actually expanded their temporal use. We’re seeing them almost every day out there, sometimes doing spectacular things.” PWWA boats are seeing a wide range of feeding behaviors among the humpbacks, suggesting that the whales are successfully foraging for different types of local prey. Captains and naturalists are reporting lunge feeding – the whales moving quickly toward a school of prey with their mouths wide open, then closing their mouths and filtering the salt water out using their baleen. Whale watchers are even seeing an inventive technique called bubble feeding, quite unique to the species. This is where two or more whales swim in a shrinking circle blowing bubbles below a school of prey, creating a ring of bubbles that encircles the school and confines it in an ever-smaller cylinder. The whales then suddenly swim upward through the “net,” mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp. And there’s perhaps nothing in nature as astounding as the breach of a humpback whale, where these massive animals, some reaching 50 feet and 40 tons, hurl themselves completely out of the water, often twisting in flight before crashing to the surface. “We had up to five humpbacks here for about ten days in May,” reports Tom Averna of Deer Harbor Charters on Orcas Island. “And we’re continuing to see them into June. I don’t recall having humpbacks in the Islands like this in the 25 years I’ve been running trips.” Dr. Hall notes that mothers are starting to bring young calves into the area, suggesting that the Sound and Straits are once again providing the humpbacks an important nursery habitat function. “The mothers seem to feel this is a safe place to take the calves,” Dr. Hall explains. “There appears to be plenty of food for her to sustain herself, while also weaning her baby, teaching it how to feed. This is great news.” Olympia-based Cascadia Research Collective estimates that about 1,600 humpback whales feed off the west coast of North America, including as many as 500 off Washington and British Columbia. These animals visit to feed from spring to fall before migrating in the winter to warm-water breeding and calving areas in Mexico, Central America and Hawaii. Researchers believe there are more than 18,000 humpbacks now in the North Pacific, up from about 1,500 when whale hunting was banned in 1966. Photo: Humpback breaches near Friday Harbor, WA. Orcas Express is getting quite a show! (Photo: Katy Jones, Orcas Island Eclipse Charters.) blog.seattlepi/thebigblog/2013/06/12/photos-humpback-whales-flocking-to-puget-sound-straits/