Tag Archives: whale song

Humpbacks, False Killer Whales, and even a Hammerhead!

Posted on by
Aloha,
Our weekend whale watching started out with “too many whales to count” on Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. We spent about an hour with a pod of 3  – Mom, her calf and an escort. The calf was really active – lobbing his little tail over and over. We also had a couple of very close encounters with whales swimming just 10 feet away from the boat! On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 30 whales! We had breaches close to the boat; we saw a spy hop, head lunges, tail lobs, pec slaps and double pec slaps – pretty much every behavior in the book! On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise. the highlight of the trip was either the competitive pod of 6 whales repetitively tail lobbing and peduncle throwing…or the VERY CLOSE BREACH. We couldn’t decide which was more exciting. On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we encountered a pod of two whales just outside of the Bay. They stayed with us for awhile, but then we saw a pod of 5, so we headed out to see them. They were really active on the surface, breaching and tail lobbing, and at one point all 5 of them crossed our bow just 20 feet away. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 25 whales, including a fairly active competitive pod of 3. The two males were clearly jockeying for position to get closer to the female…lots of trumpeting and bubble blowing from them. We also saw two breaches on the horizon, tail lobs and peduncle throws. But the highlight of this trip is when our naturalist Jonathan saw something white floating on the water. As we got closer we were able to determine it was a Hammerhead Shark! This shark was probably 8-10 feet long, (which is normal for that species) and it stayed with the boat for almost 20 minutes! On Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 7 whales including two pods of Mom/Baby without escorts. When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard faint singing. And to top off the day, on our Whales and Cocktails trip, not only did we see a lots of Humpbacks, but we also saw a pod of false killer whales (they look like kind of like  big – really big – dolphins, and though they’re shaped a lot like orcas, they don’t have the white markings). False Killer Whales (Pseudorca crassidens) are not really that rare, although we don’t see them often in shallow water. They feed on large fish and squid, and average between 16-20 feet long.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Friday’s pectoral and double pectoral slaps showed our guests the most distinctive physical characteristic of the Humpback Whale…Humpback Whales have the longest Pectoral Fins (arms) of any of the great whales. They’re so distinctive that the Latin Genus name (Megaptera) for the Humpback actually describes those fins…The Genus and Species names are “Megaptera Novaengliae” meaning“Big-Winged New Englander” and pronounced “MAY-ga-terra No-vee-ANG-li-ee.

Escorts and Breaching

Posted on by
Aloha,
We had some nice times on the water on Wednesday.We saw whales on all of our trips, but the highlight of the whole day was on our 10:00 Whale Watch when we saw a total of 8 different whales. One was a pod of 3…Mom, her baby, an an escort (for a definition of the escort’s role, please see today’s Humpback Fact of the Day). We got to see 2 breaches just 25 yards from the boat. Jonathan, our on board naturalist, is pretty sure it was the escort doing the breaching since Mom and baby weren’t all that active on the surface. When we deployed the hydrophone on this trip, we heard some very clear and loud songs. As more and more whales arrive in Hawaii this season, we’re beginning to notice more sustained surface activity. Since the Humpbacks come all the way from Alaska to mate and calve…this sustained activity is an indication that the party is getting started!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We frequently see Mom and Baby whale accompanied by a third whale. We used to think the third whale was a female helping mom take care of her baby, but now that we can identify gender more easily, we know it isn’t. It’s a male — not Dad —but a “wanna-be” Dad. Mom is capable of getting pregnant right after she gives birth (though she usually waits a year between pregnancies). So why does this new mother allow the male near her and her calf? We’ll introduce possible theories in tomorrow’s Fact of the Day.

Humpbacks Singing…and Lots of Calves

Posted on by
Aloha,
Highlights from Monday’s Whale Watches included what our naturalist Meggan called, a “really exciting trip – best of the season so far”! On the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, guests saw 6 Humpbacks, including a Mom and her little calf…we also saw a few breaches – not real close, but close enough that it made for a huge splash! When we dropped the hydrophone in the water we heard some incredible singing too (if you have access to Facebook and want to hear a clip, we put a link to a snippet Hawaii Ocean Sports fan page). And Alala had a private Whale Watch from 8:00 – 10:00. Guests aboard that boat saw 7 whales including a pretty quiet Mom and calf. They also saw a long-distance breach, and they heard some great singing too.
 
Join us on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises – Call (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com for more information and reservations.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: A baby whale, called a “calf” looks so small and cute when seen playing with her Mom. But everything is relative…when the calf is born, she can already be 10 to as much as 15 feet long, and she weighs 2000 to 3000 pounds!

Faint Singing, Lots of Spouts with Lots of Air, and Close Encounters

Posted on by
Aloha,
Our Thursday Whale Watches began with 3 sightings on the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. Our onboard naturalst Kane reports the whales had long bottom times, and performed no surface activities (other than coming up to breathe). Guests aboard the boat were really excited though when at one point, one of the whales surfaced just 50 feet from the boat. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, our on onbard naturalist Dr. Jonathan reports that guests saw 4 Humpbacks with one “pretty spectacular breach on the horizon”. He also tells us that when they hyrdophone was deployed they were able to pick up some faint singing, and says guests were excited by the two different close encounters (whales approaching us closer than 100 yards). And the action continued on to our Whales & Cocktails Cruise with guests seeing lots more spouts from at least 2 whales.
 
Join Ocean Sports for Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send out the next report on Monday.
Claire
 
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When a Humpback spouts, he’s exhaling in a half of a second, 90% of the volume of air in his lungs. It’s enough air in one blow to fill up the interior of a mini van. In case you’re curious, when an average size human adult exhales, he takes 3 times as long to exhale just 15% of the volume of air in his lungs — and an adult exhalation wouldn’t even fill up a Smart Car — it’s only enough air to fill up a lunch bag.

Humpbacks Singing New Songs

Posted on by
Aloha,
We only ran one Whale Watch on Tuesday and that was at 10:00 on Alala out of Kawaihae. We travelled up the coast and then down the coast and we never did see a whale. That doesn’t mean they’re gone…just means there are fewer of them around the island, and that we didn’t connect. Since our morning trips are guaranteed, we called that trip a “fluke” and all of our guests are invited back again on a Whale Watch for Free! This time of year, we often see Mom’s and Calves (they’re the last to leave…Mom will stay here till she knows her calf is big enough and strong enough to begin the swim back to Alaska) and whales that still want to mate. So the end of our Whale Watch season each year can be really exciting. Cute calves and desperation (due to lack of mating opportunities) can make for some really exciting encounters for us!
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch before the season ends. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: To our untrained ears, the sounds we hear from our Hydrophones sound pretty random, though we have noticed the lack of certain phrases this year that we heard fairly often last year (most notably, a phrase that sounded like “whoop,Whoop, WHOOP, WHOOP WHOOP“). According to a paper published in the journal Current Biology, it turns out that our ears aren’t so untrained after all. Researchers have documented that the Humpback songs in the South Pacific are actually changing really quickly. Over the last decade, completely new song themes are appearing within a season. The researchers compared the radical evolution of the Humpbacks’ songs to human musical composition, suggesting that the themes are so novel, it’s as if whole new human musical genres were appearing that no one had ever heard just a few years ago.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Whale Calves Playing and Barnacles Travelling

Posted on by
Aloha,
Monday’s whale watches were a mixed bag. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip out of Anaeho’omalu, we travelled up and down the coast looking for Humpbacks but we didn’t see any. Since we guarantee our morning Whale Watches, our guests were invited to return on another Whale Watch for free! I guess the Humpbacks had all decided that the Northern part of the sanctuary waters was the place to be, because on our 10:00 Whale Watch out of Kawaihae, we saw 6 Humpbacks. We saw 3 lone whales and one pod of Cow/Calf/Escort. We saw a breach on the horizon, 3 pec slaps and 2 double pec slaps (those were from the calf who seemed to be enjoying his time on the surface). We deployed the hydrophone twice on this trip. The first time, the sounds we heard were really faint, and the second time, they were a little better, but we could tell the singers weren’t in our direct vicinity.
The Humpback Whale Watching Season ends April 15th — don’t miss out! Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your Guaranteed adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  The barnacles called “Coronula diadema” live only on Humpback Whales, and they seem to prefer to live on areas of the whale where the water flow is consistent (chin and fins).  Though researchers aren’t sure how the barnacle can even find a whale to live on, there is some speculation that because the barnacles are spawning during the winter in Hawaii, the whales here are swimming in “barnacle larvae soup”. When a whale swims by, those “baby” barnacles chemically sense it, and hop on where ever they can. They use their antennae as “feet’ and walk around the whale till they find a suitable spot (which can take quite awhile…if the barnacle were the size of a person, the whale would be 20 miles long). Once they find a spot they like, they flip over and produce tube-shaped cavities in their shells that actually draw in prongs of growing whale skin, holding their position on the whale for life.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Triple Breach and Ancient Migratory Paths

Posted on by
Aloha,
Wednesday’s whale watching started off with a bang! On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip, guests saw 10 different Humpbacks. Nate, our naturalist aboard that trip, reports that the best encounter though was with a Cow/Calf/Escort pod who performed a triple breach about 100 feet from the boat! Just getting to see 3 breaches in your life is a wonderful experience, but when you see 3 whales breaching simultaneously and they’re close enough that you can see their tubercles — well…that’s a sight you’ll never forget! On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 2 whales, and had one close encounter. Apparently, the Humpbacks that are still here are pretty interested in us! When we deployed the hydrophone, we did here some good singing. On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we looked and looked, but we couldn’t find a whale…but the cocktails were flowing and guests enjoyed the cruise.
Join Ocean Sports for the Whale Watch Adventure of your life. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot before the spectacular 2011-2012 season ends.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Though Humpback whales in different hemispheres migrate on opposite schedules (when it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere) and therefore are very unlikely to meet, no subspecies of Humpbacks are recognized genetically. In fact there has been some research done on maternal lineages that demonstrates relationships which exist in the present across hemispheric boundaries. This suggests that at one point (perhaps in the very distant past)  there was some level  of inter-hemispheric gene flow.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Mugged for 45 minutes!

Posted on by
Aloha,
We started off our week with a Breakfast with the Whales trip that our on-board naturalist Adam said was both “Awesome” and the “best [he’s] seen in weeks”! The trip began with a full breach about 300 yards from the boat, but that wasn’t even the best part. Adam reports that we were surrounded and mugged for 45 minutes by a very curious pod of Mom, her baby and their escort. As Adam said…they were within “spitting distance” the whole time! We love when we’re the object of so much interest by our Humpbacks! On our 10:00 Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 6 Humpbacks — two different pods of Mom/Baby/Escort. We did see one breach and when we deployed the hydrophone we heard some pretty loud, clear singing. We also saw  the Humpback’s little cousins, Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins twice on that trip. On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, the Humpbacks seemed to have quieted down quite a bit. We did see one whale, who was on a 13 minute dive pattern. S/he would surface, spout twice and then sound for 13 minutes.
Join Ocean Sports and watch the Humpbacks watching you. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Before whaling was banned internationally, Humpback whales’ livers were processed for their oil, which contained a lot of vitamin A. A fully grown Humpback has a liver that weighs between 800 and 1400 pounds.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Lots of Cow/Calf/Escort pods for the first day of Spring

Posted on by
Aloha,
Can you believe it’s Spring already? Our first official day of post-winter whale watching was a good one. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, guests saw 8 different Humpbacks including one pod of Cow/Calf/Escort. We saw 7 breaches in the distance, but got to see one close-up too. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 16 different Humpbacks including 4 different Cow/Calf/Escort pods. We had 2 close-by breaches, 2 head lunges, 3 tail lobs, 1 pectoral slap, and 4 peduncle throws. It was too windy for us to deploy the hydrophone on that trip, so we can’t report on underwater singing action. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails trip, we were able to deploy the hydrophone and we did hear lots of singing from lots of different whales. We saw 7 whales on that trip and one breach fairly close up. All-in-all, a great start to Spring in Hawaii!
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch before the season ends. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: According to research conducted in Japan, the peak estrus period for Humpbacks (i.e. when females are in heat) overall,  is between the end of January and the end of February, but the peak estrus period for females with a calf appears to be several weeks later. Our frequent observations of pods of Mom and Baby who are accompanied by an escort this time of year seem to support the validity of these findings.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Singing, Baby Pec Slaps, and Humphrey’s Story

Posted on by

Aloha,

We had some great times on the water on Wednesday. Our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales and our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails both departed from Anaeho’omalu on Manu Iwa. The whales seemed happy to see us as both trips report lots of sightings and too many surface activities to keep track of. When we deployed the hydrophone on each of those trips, we heard some very loud and clear singing and vocalizations. But it was on our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae that we saw a complete turn-around from the day before. On this trip we saw 14 whales, 4 breaches, 2 pec slaps and one double pec slap from a calf (we love to see calves attempt this maneuver — they look so uncoordinated and cute while lying on their backs, flipping their pectoral fins around). We saw 2 pods of Cow/Calf/Escorts and one competitive pod consisting of 2 males and a female (at least that’s what our naturalist Jonathan was able to infer, based on the whales’ behaviors). We had one close encounter, and one mugging on that trip, and we deployed the hydrophone twice. The first time, we heard lots of whales, but the second time the sounds were incredibly resonant which means our singing whale was pretty close by.

 

Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch Adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Yesterday, I promised to tell you the rest of the Humphrey the Humpback Whale story. After successfully luring Humphrey to the ocean in 1985, researchers were a little surprised to see him back in San Francisco Bay again in 1990. This time, he got stuck on a mud flat south of Candlestick Park. Rescuers from the Marine Mammal Center  and the US Coast Guard used a cargo net and a boat to free him. Then, he was guided out of the Bay to the ocean by a flotilla of boats behind him full of people banging on steel pipes (a Japanese fishing technique called “oikomi”). At the same time, those same attractive sounds of Humpbacks feeding that lured Humphrey out to sea in 1985 were broadcast from boats in front of Humphrey. It worked. Since then, Humphrey’s story has been memorialized in a number of children’s books, a movie and he even has a Facebook page!

 

Mahalo,

Captain Claire