Humpback Whale Feeding Grounds

Pink Hues over South Baranof
Close Encounters
   It turns out that late July is a pretty good time to be in Southeast Alaska for humpback whale action. July and August mark the culmination of migrating humpbacks to the feeding grounds. The bait fish and krill are here in abundance which means so are the humpbacks.


Lunge Feeding Humpbacks
  After having spent many whale seasons in Hawaii, where these whales concentrate on calving and breeding instead of eating, it is wonderful to be on the flip side seeing all the different feeding behaviors. We had synchronized lunge feeding whales right next to the ship as well as a couple instances of bubble net feeding.

   Guests realized how amazing an encounter these feeding behaviors were when the entire crew flooded out to see them with cameras in hand. I never knew the lunge feeding could happen so cooperatively, with two whales coming up side by side at exactly the same moment, with mouth agape and ventral pleats expanding to let in close to 15,000 gallons of krill filled seawater. And while everyone's attention was tuned into these feeding whales close to the boat I saw one of the most amazing sights I've ever witnessed a little farther off...a quadruple breach. Four whales breached almost simultaneously and only a few of us saw it. It will be a special moment tucked away from an entire season of incredible sights.
Hard to tell what this is.... Two Humpbacks lunge feeding at the surface


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