Whales, Whales and Whales
From our platform aboard the Delphinus, we spent perhaps 12 hours observing humpback whales in Icy Strait. Betty took hundreds of photos, using the equivalent of a 600mm lens on a tripod. (In the years since she took these first images, she has added yet hundreds more to her collection. To see them, return to her home page and click on the "Alaska trip" link for yet more photos.) Here are a few of her earliest images:
Lunge feeding--also called bubble feeding--comes across on film as a confusion of whales. The bellows of the whales' lower jaws distend remarkably so that they can capture maximum quantities of capelin (small fish) and krill. You can see this in the above photo (right/center). Whales can open their jaws 90 degrees. Humpbacks typically reach 40 to 50 feet in length, so imagine a mouth the size of a small living room. Fortunately humpbacks don't have teeth, so we humans don't have anything to fear. In fact, humpbacks are remarkably benign; only males of the species show aggression towards one another, as evidenced by many scars.
Each whale has a characteristic fluke pattern or "signature." Scientists use these identifying marks to track whale migrations. Glacier Bay whales winter in Hawaii. The warm, clear waters there are great for giving birth to calves, but contain little food. The whales essentially don't eat while they're in Hawaii, but feed extensively in Alaska.
Left: The big one that got away! These anglers appear to have snagged a 40-footer. Wonder what kind of tackle they've got...
A juvenile humpback performs a partial breach. Like the young of many species--be they kittens or kids--young whales have a lot of extra energy.
Say "Ahhh!" This bubble-feeding whale can open REALLY wide.
[Note: this image is not sharp. Point of focus is about 50 feet behind the whale.]
Whales, Whales and Whales
From our platform aboard the Delphinus, we spent perhaps 12 hours observing humpback whales in Icy Strait. Betty took hundreds of photos, using the equivalent of a 600mm lens on a tripod. (In the years since she took these first images, she has added yet hundreds more to her collection. To see them, return to her home page and click on the "Alaska trip" link for yet more photos.) Here are a few of her earliest images:
Lunge feeding--also called bubble feeding--comes across on film as a confusion of whales. The bellows of the whales' lower jaws distend remarkably so that they can capture maximum quantities of capelin (small fish) and krill. You can see this in the above photo (right/center). Whales can open their jaws 90 degrees. Humpbacks typically reach 40 to 50 feet in length, so imagine a mouth the size of a small living room. Fortunately humpbacks don't have teeth, so we humans don't have anything to fear. In fact, humpbacks are remarkably benign; only males of the species show aggression towards one another, as evidenced by many scars.
Each whale has a characteristic fluke pattern or "signature." Scientists use these identifying marks to track whale migrations. Glacier Bay whales winter in Hawaii. The warm, clear waters there are great for giving birth to calves, but contain little food. The whales essentially don't eat while they're in Hawaii, but feed extensively in Alaska.
Left: The big one that got away! These anglers appear to have snagged a 40-footer. Wonder what kind of tackle they've got...
A juvenile humpback performs a partial breach. Like the young of many species--be they kittens or kids--young whales have a lot of extra energy.
Say "Ahhh!" This bubble-feeding whale can open REALLY wide.
[Note: this image is not sharp. Point of focus is about 50 feet behind the whale.]