Tag Archives: jaw clap

Competition on the Lek

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Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was windy again…on Friday, it was so windy in fact that the only cruise that went out was a private Whale Watch from 8:00 – 10:00. Guests braving the 35 + knots of wind did see some fun stuff though, including 3 separate pods of cow/calf/escort and breaches from the adults and the calves.
On Saturday and Sunday we were able to run all our cruises but the highlights included sightings of 25 different humpbacks on Saturday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, including 4 different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. At one point we watched as one of these babies dove under her mom (nursing maybe?). At the end of this trip, we found a competitve pod of 7 males chasing a female with her baby. This group was really active, head lunging, bubble blowing, jaw clapping, trumpeting…and they brought their chase right by the boat.
On Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 different Humpbacks. This trip started with some big tail lobs and pec slaps by a couple of big adults. After that we found a curious Mom/Baby pod who cruised back and forth under us a couple of times. Then we found a competitive pod and got to see some huge peduncle throws, a couple of breaches and some head lunging from them. We went right back out again at 12:30 and found the same Mom/Baby we had seen on the first trip right below Kohala Ranch. Once again, Mom let her baby approach us to get a good look, and they both swam under us and around us a couple of times. After that, we found another competitive pod and got to see some motorboating and head lunges from them. And to top it off, accompanying this pod of Humpbacks, we saw 4 pygmy killer whales (a pretty rare sight for us)!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers note that female Humpbacks in the North Pacific population are seen with their first calf when they’re between 8 and 16 years old (the mean age is 11.8). In the North Atlantic, female Humpbacks give birth for the first time when they’re between 5 and 7 years old.

Humpbacks Dancing at the Surface

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Aloha,
Thursday seemed to be “Baby Day” on the Kohala Coast. On the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we saw two different Cow/Calf pods, one with an escort (who seemed kind of out-of-breath, because we heard some trumpeting from him). We also saw a breach about 100 yards from the boat, and several pec slaps and peduncle throws. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 6 different Cow/Calf pods including one with 4 males trailing behind. And on our 12:30 Whale Watch, guests saw 5 different Cow/Calf pods. One of these consisted of a very small Mom and Baby accompanied by a pretty big escort…and another consisted of a pretty big Mom accompanied by 4 escorts who were really battling a lot to get to her. We watched as she continually pushed her baby away from the males, and we watched a lot of aggressive shoving from those escorts (including some bubble blowing, a few head lunges, a throat inflation, and a jaw clap). The highlight of that trip though was when we encountered three adult whales who seemed to be doing some pretty interesting  head down, flukes out of the water vertical dancing. They turned and twisted all around each other for minutes at a time, then they’d disappear, only to reappear and do it all over again.
Mahalo, and have a great weekend. I’ll send out the next report recapping the weekend activity on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:Those lines we see under the Humpback’s mouth are actually pleats that allow for the expansion of her mouth when she feeds. This expansion, combined with her ability to flex her jaws, allows her to hold up to 15,000 gallons of sea water in her mouth at one time — that’s the equivalent of 160,000 cans of Diet Pepsi (or Budweiser) in every gulp — of course, she doesn’t swallow the water she gulps…just the unlucky fish that had been swimming in it.

Jaw clapping, lunging, breaching and Singing

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Aloha,

Our weekend began with an incredibly calm Friday morning — so calm, in fact, that some of our whales seemed lulled into sleep (or at least a deep doze). Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise encountered a whale behaving very unusually. He (or she) was lying on the surface in the typical “sleep” posture, breathing occasionally. But every minute or so, he was raising his caudal peduncle (the thin part of the tail) and lightly slapping his flukes on the water. As he drifted by us (we had our engines off so as not to disturb him), he began breathing really heavily — it sounded like snoring! We saw 20 whales on that trip, and a couple of pec slaps too. On the Whales and Cocktails cruise, we found 4 different Cow/Calf/Escort pods, and followed some pretty heavy competition from a different competitive pod. On Saturday, we began our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise with a sighting of a tiny calf literally just outside the Bay in about 40 feet of water! We were speculating that Mom had to be holding her stomach in to not be scraping up against the reef. After watching baby, Mom and escort surface a few times, we spotted a competitive pod of 4 whales — one of whom was inflating his mouth with air and then clapping his jaw shut (another aggressive display). We also saw a calf from a different pod breach 3 times in a row (although the last attempt resulted in sort of a half breach/half splash). This baby was curious about us, and led Mom and the escort right under our bow. Total whale count for that trip was17. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 8 Humpbacks, and really enjoyed the time we spent with a pod of Spinner Dolphins. While we were watching the dolphins surfing on our bow wake, a couple of Humpbacks popped up very close to the boat, and the dolphins decided it was time to play with the whales! On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 12 whales, but spent almost the whole trip watching a competitive pod of 5 whales. There was lots of jaw clapping and throat inflating from one of those whales, and we finally saw 3 breaches as we were returning to the Bay. On our Sunday 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 14 different whales, but spent most of the trip with a Cow/Calf/Escort. We watched as another male tried to join the group, exuberantly breaching about 100 feet from our boat! Towards the end of the charter, we encountered a competitive pod of 3 whales and saw some lunging and general “shoving around” (though we know that’s not the technical term for what we were seeing). On the 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 6 different whales, and to finish off the weekend, on the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 11 whales, but our most exciting siting was when Mom, her baby, and an escort swam right along side the starboard side of the boat!

 

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Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: I’ve talked a lot about the song that only the male Humpbacks sing, but Humpbacks of both genders vocalize. In 1986, researchers off the Maui coastline broadcast the sounds that female whales make while they’re feeding — the sounds attracted all kinds of male whales. We’re not sure if those males were attracted to the sounds of females feeding because the Humpbacks are fasting and hungry while they’re here, or if they were attracted to the sounds of females feeding, because it’s mating season!

Mahalo,

Captain Claire