# Whales and seabird chicks in The Bay of Fundy



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Almost exactly two years ago, I visited the Bay of Fundy (Southeast Canada, just northeast of Maine).

While there, I got to visit a Bowdoin College Research Station where they studied the Stormy Petrels, a bird that lives most of its life far out at sea, but visits land in the Summer to breed. The parents dig holes on the shore, and leave their chicks safe in the holes during the day while the parents forage at sea. In the evening, the parents return and regurgitate partially-digested food for the chicks (thankfully, I didn't observe or photograph that activity!). But the researchers have backdoors into several holes so they can weigh the chicks and take various measurements each day, and they brought out two chicks for us to see and pet. This one is about five weeks old.










One of the big reasons for going there was whale watching. I love whales, and the Bay of Fundy is a big feeding ground for highly endangered Right Whales. I took this shot of the ocean as we headed out to look for whales, the patterns here intrigued me.










And here is one of the whales! They stick their tails out of the water like this when they are diving deep. I love the look of the water pouring off of the tail! As you can see, we were not the only boat out looking for whales!










One unfortunate thing about whalewatching, most of the time you don't get to see much of the whales! Just the top of the head (as we see here) or the tail in most cases. This is the barnacle-covered head of a right whale sticking out of the water. You can see the top of an arc along his side--That's actually his mouth!










To help you understand what you're seeing in the above, here's a side view (not mine):


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Reminds me of trying to get porpoise and moray eel shots in the Galapagos.  Just not happening.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow, that looks like an awesome experience. I like the whale's barnacle-covered head. So funny looking!


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## terryr (Apr 24, 2010)

Awesome! The only time I saw a cetacean pretty close, I was in a sailboat in Puget Sound (area of Gig Harbor), and it was a small, solo harbor porpoise that I first thought was a baby gray whale because of the head shape. I was so mesmerized with watching for it to surface again that I forgot to take any pictures. I saw a pod of orcas on the BC Ferry going to Pender Island but they were very far away so all we saw were their blows.


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