Fin Whale

 

Another whale we have been fortunate to observe in our travels is the Fin Whale. We have observed them from whale watching tours in Bar Harbour Maine, Cape Cod and the St Lawrence River Quebec.

The Fin Whale is the second-largest whale species on earth, second only to the Blue Whale. It is found throughout the world’s oceans. It gets its name from an easy-to-spot fin on its back, near its tail.

Like all large whales, fin whales were hunted by commercial whalers, which severely lowered their populations. Whalers did not target them at first, because they were fast swimmers and lived in open ocean habitats. But, as whaling methods modernized with steam-powered ships and explosive harpoons, and whalers decimated other easy-to-catch species, whaling turned to fin whales. This industry killed a huge number during the mid-1900s—nearly 725,000 in the Southern Hemisphere alone.

Fin Whales have sleek, streamlined bodies with V-shaped heads. They have a tall, hooked dorsal fin, about two-thirds of the way back on the body, that rises at a shallow angle from the back.

Fin whales have distinctive coloration—black or dark brownish-gray on the back and sides and white on the underside. Head coloring is asymmetrical—dark on the left side of the lower jaw, white on the right-side lower jaw, and the reverse on the tongue.

During the summer, Fin Whales feed on krill, small schooling fish (including herring, capelin, and sand lance), and squid by lunging into schools of prey with their mouth open, using their 50 to 100 accordion-like throat pleats to gulp large amounts of food and water. They then filter the food particles from the water, using the 260 to 480 baleen plates.

Fin whales fast in the winter while they migrate to warmer waters. Like other baleen whales, fin whales also skim the water, taking in huge volumes of water. When they close their mouths, the water is pushed out through the baleen and the prey is caught on the inside of the baleen. A fin whale eats up to 2 tons of food daily.

Blue Whale

 

I got thinking about some of the other whales we have observed on our whale watching trips. Back in July of 2017 we took four of the grandkids out to Tadoussac Quebec whale watching. Marilyn and I have been out to Tadoussac a couple of times as whale watching is great in this area of the St Lawerence River where the fresh and salt water meet.

Minke whales, humpback whales, fin whales and blue whales come here to feed over the summer from May to October. The beluga whale is the only cetacean species to live in the St. Lawrence year round. On our trips to Tadoussac we have observed all 5 species.

Although not a great image of a Blue Whale it does showcase their size as a large portion of the whale is underwater, then you have the expose torso, then it’s underwater again, then you have the tail. About a hundred feet. Crazy.

Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. They feed almost exclusively on krill, straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates (which hang from the roof of the mouth and work like a sieve). Some of the biggest individuals may eat up to 6 tons of krill a day.

Blue whales are found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. There are five currently recognized subspecies of blue whales.

The number of blue whales today is only a small fraction of what it was before modern commercial whaling significantly reduced their numbers during the early 1900s, but populations are increasing globally. The primary threats blue whales currently face are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear.

Blue whales have a long body and generally slender shape. Their mottled blue-gray color appears light blue under water—hence their name, the blue whale. The mottling pattern is variable and can be used to identify individuals.

Antarctic blue whales are generally larger than other blue whale subspecies. For example, in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, blue whales can grow up to about 90 feet and are over 100,000 pounds, but in the Antarctic, they can reach up to about 110 feet and weigh more than 330,000 pounds. Like many other baleen whales, female blue whales are generally larger than males.

After our trip out east, we took the kids to see the Blue Whale exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto where they had a Blue Whale skeleton and heart on display. The heart is about 5 feet in length and 4 feet wide.

Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary

Last weekend I spent 4 days in the Boston area whale watching with the grandkids. Marilyn and I had been to the area a few years ago to hear Neil Young at the famous Wang Performance Theater and while in the area spent a week on Cape Cod whale watching in the southern edge of the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary leaving from Provincetown on Cape Cod.

This time we left from Gloucester on Cape Ann in the north area of the Stellwagen Bank, namely Jeffrey’s Ledge. We had a couple of great trips and got to watch Humpback whales up close feeding, flopping their tales and waving pectoral fins, as well as doing complete rollovers just meters from our boat. Needless to say, the grandkids had an amazing time.

The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is an 842-square-mile federally protected Marine sanctuary at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. It is known as an excellent whale watching site, and is home to many other species of marine life.

The heart of the sanctuary is Stellwagen Bank, an underwater plateau stretching 19 miles north to south, and six miles across at its widest, near the southern end. The bank is, on average, 100 to 120 feet below the surface, while surrounding waters to the west are over 300 feet deep and to the northeast as deep as 600 feet.

Upwelling at the shelf break occurs because there are currents flowing along the coast, slower moving water at the bottom of the ocean due to friction, stratified water separated by density, salinity, and temperature, and a dramatic change in seafloor slope. The underwater cliff-edge of Stellwagen Bank runs parallel to the coastline and is referred to as the shelf break. The shelf break is a steep slope which descends thousands of feet to the ocean floor. Deep nutrient rich currents are forced upwards toward the surface when they come into contact with the steep slopes of the bank’s plateau. This upwelling brings nutrients to the surface for phytoplankton, which brings larger organisms to feed.

Over 130 species from numerous classes of the animal kingdom call the bank home at least temporarily. Some such fish are the Atlantic cod, silver hake, yellow-tail flounder, blue-fin and yellow-fin tuna, striped bass, blue fish and numerous species of shark including the great white shark. Shellfish such as the American lobster, sea scallops, squid and ocean quahogs are also prevalent.

Many marine birds call the bank home including gannets, shearwaters, storm petrels, fulmars, puffins and razorbills. Reptiles are even present, primarily being represented by the leatherback sea turtle.

The most famous animals on Stellwagen Bank are the mammals. Five species of seals (harp seal, gray seal, harbour seal, hooded seal, and ringed seal) and numerous whale species swim in the waters of Stellwagen.

Whale watchers can frequently see humpback whales, minke whales, and fin whales. There are occasional sightings of one of the most critically endangered whale species, North Atlantic Right Whales.

The Stellwagen Bank owes much of its existence to the last major ice age. 25,000 years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet advanced over the eastern United States, pushing in front of it large amounts of earth and rocks. The southern margin of the glaciers formed local geographical features including Cape Cod and Stellwagen Bank.

A video my daughter-in-law Theresa shot on our trip with her phone of a humpback flopping around waving it's pectoral fin then rolling over.

In the 17th century it was observed that the area made for excellent fishing. Large cod and tuna were frequently caught in the area, and whaling ships caught many whales in the area.
In 1854, the US Navy sent Lieutenant Commander Henry Stellwagen to survey and map the area. It was known that there was a bank in the area, but its extent and shape were not known.

Humpback pectoral fin from a previous whale watching excursion.

Prior to Stellwagen's survey, it was believed there were two small banks in the area: one just to the north of Cape Cod, and one in the middle of the entrance to Massachusetts Bay. Stellwagen showed that they were part of one large bank. As a result, the Navy named the bank after him in 1855.

On October 7, 1992, Congress designated the area a National Marine Sanctuary.

For more information on Humpback Whales check out the Humpback Whale blog from Alaska

Five-lined Skink

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go herping with some birder friends looking for salamanders. Although I’ve always loved searching out turtles, snakes, toads and frogs, the world of salamanders was new to me. Since then, I’ve been able to view many types of salamanders and have enjoyed learning about them.

I’ve also become interested in skinks and last weekend while volunteering at a local scout camp I had the opportunity to search out some skink locations. I’ve observed many five-lined skinks in this area the last couple of years and this was no exception. Overall, we viewed 5 skinks and a milk snake including this Skink nest with 9 eggs.

Here is some info I gathered from the internet on Five-lined Skinks if you are interested.

There are two populations of Common Five-lined Skink in Ontario, occupying different types of habitat. The Southern Shield population can be found underneath rocks on open bedrock in forests. The Carolinian population can be found under woody debris in clearings with sand dunes, open forested areas, and wetlands. Five-lined skinks hibernate in groups under rocks or tree stumps and in rotting wood.

Five-lined skinks reach sexual maturity at just under two years of age. They breed in May and early June. Females lay two to 15 eggs in the early summer in a nest excavated under cover or within a rotting log. Several females may nest together and will protect their nest from predators. Females bask in the sun and return to the nest to use their bodies to warm their eggs, which hatch in late summer. The hatchlings are approximately three centimetres long.

Five-lined skinks are not territorial, and individuals do not have strict home ranges. These lizards eat a wide variety of invertebrates, such as insects, spiders and worms, and track prey with their keen sense of smell.

If a predator catches a skink by the tail, it will break off and begin to thrash about. The moving tail distracts the predator while the lizard escapes. Although a new tail will grow over time, the skink will have lost much of the fat reserves on which it relies to survive the winter.

The removal of important microhabitats, such as shoreline debris, wood and loose rocks, is also a serious threat to this species, especially the Carolinian population.

Other threats to the five-lined skink include road mortality, illegal collection for the pet trade and predation, especially in areas where raccoons and other predators are abundant. A study at Point Pelee National Park documented a road mortality level of almost one skink per day!