God’s creatures are amazing!
Humpback
Gill Wylie writes:
What a thrill! – to see a 10 ton ‘baby’ Humpback whale launch itself out of the ocean into the air just yards from me. What a privilege and so lucky to get this photo! It was exciting and moving to see these wonderful creatures in their natural element.
To see these marvellous mammals I was very lucky to go to Brier Island in Nova Scotia; a lovely little island – just 4½ by 1½ miles – with quaint clapper board houses dotted along the shore, all painted in lovely pastel colours. Brier Island has about 200 inhabitants, one village, one made up road, 3 lighthouses and the Bay of Fundy on its doorstep.
The Bay of Fundy was where we went to look for whales. The boats we used had researchers on them who were studying and documenting the whales in the bay. The Humpback whales have a glorious tail fluke which is uniquely patterned on the underside. Researchers take pictures of the flukes and can identify the individual whales. The Humpback whales breed in warmer waters in the south and migrate north for the summer with their calves.
I saw most of the typical behaviours expected of the Humpback. A mother and her calf swam alongside our boat one day, very close – we could see the white pectoral fins reflecting green through the water below us. It was magical.
Another day we saw tail slapping and fin slapping. The whale raises its extremely long pectoral fin straight out of the water and then slaps it down. There was one doing this just by our boat. It used both fins at once and lay on its back (backstroke!) showing its unusually white ‘tum’.
The pectoral fins can be seen from miles away standing up like the sail of a yacht. We scanned the horizon for these signs of whale activity as well as the tell tale blow spray as the whales breathe on the surface. They can go down vast depths and stay down 10 to 15 minutes on a deep dive.
The most amazing sight, though, has to be breaching. The whales launch themselves clear out of the water, starting out arching backwards and then turning on their side in the air and landing sideways into the ocean with a spectacular splash! There are all sorts of theories why they do this but I think it must be fun – and they can! God’s creatures are amazing.