Humpback Whale

On the way back from Aialik Glacier, the boat cruised by several more of those rocky islands that the birds enjoy so much. As we approached one hunk of rock, the captain noticed something that piqued his interest. All I saw, however, was a rather large flock of birds just above the surface of the water.

I didn't have to wait very long to understand. A Humpback Whale surfaced right where all those birds were flocking.

The birds and the whale were after the same thing: fish. The whale was fishing from below, and the birds from above.

I wonder if any birds, in an ill-timed attempt at a fish, have ever been eaten by a whale. I don't see how the whale could avoid any bird that got in the way. And there were enough Kittiwakes, Gulls and Puffins taking their chances for a fish that it just seems inevitable that one of those birds would eventually end up as a bit of whale chow. If one did, I am not sure how I would even notice.

Eventually the whale moved in one direction, and our boat moved in another. The birds seemed to settle down as well. I think that meant that there were no more fish to be had. We got a few more glimpses of the whale surfacing, spray puffing up into the air, before we headed on our way.

Stellar Sea Lion

This is a group of Stellar Sea Lions lounging on a bit of convenient rock. The boat got fairly close to that rock, but the sea lions did not get spooked to the point of leaving their comfy perch. At worst, they just kept a close eye on us, but several just kept sleeping (meh...just another stoopid boat).

Stellar Sea Lions are undergoing some significant changes. There are two populations of Stellar Sea Lion: eastern (found on the eastern coast of Asia) and western (found on the western coast of North America). For some yet to be agreed upon reason, the western population has declined between 70% and 80% since the 1970's, and has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1990. There are lots of theories to help explain the decline (including decreasing populations of fish from climate change or our economy, increasing predation by Orca, disease, pollution, or some combination of each of these), but there is no consensus on which one(s) are the most likely.

Orca

It was about 30 minutes after we had pulled out of Seward harbor that the captain of the boat first cut his engines down to a quiet nothing. We had been heading south into Resurrection Bay when he noticed a pod of Killer Whales nearby. We were, of course, dripping with excitement. We expected to see some Killer Whales on this excursion, and right on cue they made themselves visible.

At first, we would see puffs of spray as the whales surfaced for air. There were several off in the distance, and we strained to see something that was recognizable as a Killer Whale. Occasionally we would see something that suggested that telltale black-and-white pattern, but the distance made it hard for me to connect what my eyes were seeing with what my imagination and eagerness wanted to see.

But then there was a closer puff of spray. Much closer.

I do not know how many Killer Whales were out there, but now we had at least one that was fairly close to the boat. I suspect there were several. The captain explained that they were likely feeding on salmon. With the boat's engines off it was super quiet. We just floated, and everyone on the boat stood and watched, not saying a word. And then, when one of the whales surfaced and cleared its blowhole, that sound would punctuate the silence and would carry over the distance of the water. We just floated and watched and ooohed and ahhhhed as those whales repeatedly surfaced and dove in the vicinity of the boat.

It did not occur to me prior to seeing these whales that it might be difficult to take a photograph of them as they came up for air. When they were underwater, they were invisible. When they did come up for air, your first clue was that sound of them exhaling. So when I heard that sound, I would whip around, aim my camera, trust the auto focus and AI Servo mode on my camera, and take a bunch of pictures. For me, this was a high effort, low reward approach.

Then I started to notice that several of the breaching whales were staying in the same general area. So I started to ignore all of the other whales that were around the boat, and instead focused on that one area. And my luck improved.

At first I only got a dorsal fin here and there.

But then I was finally looking at the right place at the right time. I had my camera up and ready to shoot when one of the whales surfaced hard in pursuit of some tasty little fish.

Wow! We were only 30 minutes into this eight hour trip and already I had seen (and managed to photograph) something that I will never forget.

Sea Lion Cave

Sea Lion Cave is pure tourist attraction. You come across it in the middle of nowhere as you drive south on route 101. Beneath the gift shop, they have built an elevator that takes you something like 200 feet down to a museum and platform that has a view into a sea cave on the Oregon coast. It is called Sea Lion Cave for obvious reasons: Sea Lions like to hang out there.

Seal

In the little bay/harbor next to Newport there is a colony of seals. I think that they are Harbor Seals, not because I saw them in a harbor, but because I cannot think of another kind of seal :-/

This particular seal was swimming around catching fish this morning. He would bring a fish up, fling it up in the air and then catch it before the chomp and swallow routine.

The first picture is when I caught him taking a breather between dives (and it looks pretty grainy...hopefully only until the full sized image gets uploaded). The second shows him between the fling phase and the chomp and swallow phase of the routine.

Whales

Here are three pictures of whales doing whale things. I was first clued into the fact that whales were present while we were at Cape Meares. I was changing the lens on my camera when I heard Tammy yellnig something. This is not normal behavior for Tammy, so I turned my head in her direction to figure out what was going on. She yelled again: "Whale!!!"

When I got down to where she was standing, sure enough, I saw the spray of water as a whale surfaced. I started looking at the water more closely at that point. Tammy thinks it was a Grey Whale.

I have no idea how well these pictures will turn out. I have cropped them down to just the whale parts, but it is hard for me to tell (at the moment...I do not trust my laptop's display) how fuzzy they are. And my full sized images are still uploading (347 images to upload as I write this...some of which are from Sunday). I think that first image is pretty grainy at the moment, but I am hoping that when the full sized image finally makes it to Phanfare from my laptop that it will look a bit more reasonable.

Japanese Gardens

Right next door to the International Rose Test Garden are the Japanese Gardens. Within the Japanese Gardens are lots of very quaint and relaxing spots to contemplate whatever ails you. This picture is of a koi pond fed by a waterfall.

Giant River Serpent

This is some kind of a giant snake! It is soooo long that its undulating body is poking out of the water in several places. Kind of freaky!

Actually, these are just some type of fish, flailing about in water that is a tad too shallow for them. Still is freaky.

Seals!

I think these are harbor seals. They are lounging on Mount Desert Rock, and quite curious about the boat I am on.