Just a couple more breaching whales…and then some real fun stuff…

 

August 25, 2007 9:35:17 AM

 

 

 August 25, 2007 10:18:14 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:18:14 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:18:14 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:18:15 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:18:15 AM

 

 August 25, 2007 10:18:15 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:18:16 AM

 

We saw several more breaching whales…it was a truly spectacular day.  There were times when I could only stand there with my mouth hanging open…and couldn’t even take a picture.

 

Bubblenet Feeding  is a co-operative feeding behavior of Humpback whales that is seen in very few places. We were lucky enough to find a pod of about a dozen whales traveling together in Icy Strait, near the town of Hoonah.

 

August 25, 2007 10:51:38 AM

 

 

The behavior starts when a pod of whales dive deep under a school of fish, form a circle, and blow their breath out simultaneously, forming a net of bubbles. Within the ring each humpback has a specialized task.

 

Some blow the bubbles, while others go down and herd the prey towards the surface. Another group screams "incredibly beautiful and haunting sounds" in order to concentrate the prey and force them up towards the surface into the confines of the bubble net.  We had a hydrophone on the boat so we could actually hear the whale song. These usually culminate with one loud blast to frighten the herring just before the whales break the surface.  We could, with the help of our guides, hear the difference in the song and knew when the whales were about to come to the surface.

 

The whales all get together in the group and they come charging up through this tunnel of bubbles, almost like missiles coming up through a silo, and they engulf the prey into their huge mouths at the surface.  It's an incredible event.

 

 

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:34 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:35 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:35 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:35 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:35 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:35 AM

 

August 25, 2007 10:57:37 AM

 

There are more photos in this sequence…but I think you get the idea from this four second series.  We watched them repeat this scene four times while we were out there.  It was an amazing day.

 

I think I told you that we were going to drive into Denali National Park.  We did that on Friday, Sept 14.  We left Fairbanks at 4:30 Friday morning…got into the park at about 7:00, and came back out of the park around 7:00 that evening.  We had a great time…it snowed, it rained, it was foggy, it was cloudy, it was sunny!  We had it all…we saw a nice flock of ptarmigan, a huge flight of sandhill cranes, a handful of Dall sheep, lots of rabbits, one squirrel, about eight moose…three huge bulls with enormous racks, fourteen…that’s one-four, grizzly bears, and some beautiful fall foliage.  I haven’t sorted through all of the pictures yet…we did shoot lots of bear shots and a couple of the moose were close enough to photograph, the rest of the stuff, with the exception of the foliage, was out of range for my camera.  Spent lots of time with the binoculars, though.   We got back to Fairbanks about 10:00 PM.  Another spectacular day in Alaska.

 

Tomorrow will be our last day in Alaska.  We’re leaving Fairbanks in the morning and plan to spend the night in Tok (pronounced toke) and cross the border into Canada on Thursday.  From there we are going to Polson, MT., and then to Denver, CO to see that beautiful granddaughter, “Tigger” Baines!

 

P&P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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