City - Monterey State - CALIFORNIA Country - United States
About
The Humpback Whale is an endangered species, occurring in all the world's oceans. The central California population of Humpback Whales migrates from their winter calving and mating areas off Mexico to their summer and fall feeding areas off coastal California. Humpback Whales occur in Monterey Bay from late April to early December. During this period the whales are here to feed on anchovies, sardines, and krill.
Humpback Whales reach lengths of 50 to 55', are dark in color with distinctive nodules on their rostrum, and have pectoral flippers that are nearly a third of their body length. Current population estimates for Humpback Whales off California conducted by Cascadia Research Collective indicate there are about 800 whales in this population. All whales have been photo-identified by natural markings and coloration on the underside of the tail fluke. From this photo-identification work, the migratory movements, calving intervals, association patterns, and population estimates can be determined for these whales.
Humpback Whales are in Monterey Bay to feed and they often shift to various feeding locations depending on prey density. Humpbacks are often observed lunge feeding near the surface or deep diving for prey that is concentrated several hundred feet deep. This whale is the most animated of all the baleen whales, and in the Bay they are often seen breaching, spyhopping, pectoral fin slapping, and tail lobbing.
In recent years, many different Humpback Whales in this population often approach our boat for "friendly" encounters. When engaging in this "friendly" behavior, a whale will often circle our boat, rub up against it, spyhop within several feet of the boat, roll on its side and extend its pectoral flipper toward the boat, and often tilt its head with an eye open, appearing to look up at the boat and people on board. This phenomenon has been increasing each year, probably because this new generation of whales that have never known whaling are becoming curious about boats, and they often stay for several hours investigating our boat. This contact is totally initiated by the whales.
Monterey Bay is one of the best places to observe humpbacks on a day's whale watch because the submarine canyon approaches very close to shore here. The whales are frequently found along the edges of the canyon where prey tends to concentrate. At times, the whales come even closer to shore while feeding on anchovies and can also be found 8-20 miles from shore where concentrations of krill occur in relation to thermal fronts. In every trip, the staff from Monterey Bay WW attempt to photo-identify all Humpback Whales sighted on Monterey Bay Whale Watch trips and contribute these photos to Cascadia Research.
Hi Irenka, Yes, these whales are truly giants. Male Humpback Whales can reach 17.5 m and females 19 m and weight 25-30 tons. It?s very easy to spot them at the Monterey Bay in California. From May to December, each year they visit the feeding grounds of this great place. I got this one in on September 2004. Thanks for looking at my pictures. Yamil
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