Saturday, September 15, 2007

Maine Whale Watch Highlights

I'm still sorting through our Maine photos. We went on a whale watch out of Bar Harbor. We had done this in 2005 and we saw Fin Whales, Minke Whales, Humpback Whales, and several sea birds very close the boat. We had a great time again. We didn't see as many whales this time and the wind was blowing extremely hard, but it was cool nonetheless. The only whales we saw this time were Fin Whales, which are the second largest creatures in the world. We had 4-5 of them around the boat and in the distance. Here's a picture that Beth took of one.


We also saw our first Grey Seal, a life mammal for us. As for birds, the most interesting sighting was a hummingbird about 25 miles out to sea! It buzzed the boat a few times and kept on going. There are some islands nearby that it must have used for a nest or a resting spot during migration. We saw 6 unidentified songbirds migrate over as well. Real seabirds included Greater Shearwaters, a lone Puffin, a flock of White-winged Scoters, and small flocks of Phalaropes (I assume "Red"?). I was happy to find that I didn't get any queasiness at all, despite making no efforts to stem seasickness. I always have a patch or meds for it, but I risked it this time and was happy to see that I was seaworthy on pretty rough seas.

Another highlight of the whale watch was this boat we saw on the way out. The boat was called "Beth Said Yes."

3 comments:

Larry said...

Glad you had a great trip! I have to take seasickness pills or forget it.-So you keep a life mammal list-never thought of that.

Patrick B. said...

I keep butterfly, dragonfly, reptile, amphibian, and mammal lists. I also have a mental list of wildflowers.

dguzman said...

That boat's name was cool, huh? I'd love to go out there, but I'd definitely have to take some Dramamine too.