Day 7, September 13, 2006. Thar She Blows! Sep 07—24, 2006
Posted by Marshall Iliff
Marshall Iliff
Marshall Iliff, a lifelong nature lover, began birding at age 11 after attending a National Wildlife Federation Camp in the mountains of North Carolina. He attended VENT...Related Trips
So far, on every full day at sea we have had at least one totally amazing natural experience. On September 9 it was the Orca congregation with thousands of birds; on September 10 the Short-tailed Albatross; on September 11 the masses of one million plus shearwaters and 30 humpback whales—the highlight of the trip for many of us; September 12 brought the huge congregation of albatross (including 10 Short-tailed); and today's greatest excitement finally came right on schedule for dinner. Many of our meals and lectures have been interrupted, and this evening a group of whales were spotted within the first 10 minutes of the dinner period. The whales were fairly large (30 feet), but had fairly short, falcate dorsal fins that were rounded at the tips. We estimated 11 to 15 animals traveling together, and their spouts were different from other species that travel in such groups. As excitement mounted, those of us watching in scopes were soon able to see the bulbous melon-like forehead and narrow, sometimes upturned rostrum that confirmed the identification as Baird's beaked whales. Beaked whales are the most rarely observed group of whales, and although the largest species of this group—Baird's—is one of the most commonly observed, the entire ship was abuzz with excitement. This was a new mammal for many of us, and the several leaders who had seen them before had only seen them once or twice. Amazingly, the ship was able to approach the pod quite closely before they sounded, but before they did we saw some fantastic behavior. One large animal, possibly the largest male, started a dramatic series of tail slaps. The full tail would rise high out of the water and then smash down, creating a huge splash and a chorus of "ooohs" and "wow!s" from the assembled watchers. For the grand finale, one animal (the same individual?) executed two full breaches—rising almost fully out of the water before rotating and crashing down. It is thought that these behaviors create loud underwater sounds that are used for communication. Perhaps that animal was warning the others of our vessel. The whales came up again about six minutes later and this time they came to us. We enjoyed about six minutes of viewing at the surface, which again concluded with a couple of dramatic breaches. After one more period underwater, the animals surfaced again, and this time the entire pod seemed to be late for an appointment. They started swimming at maximum speed, almost "porpoising" like dolphins. At a speed of perhaps as much as ten knots, they would rise from the water head first, blow, and then roll underwater with a large motion of the tail fluke.
In the midst of all this excitement several sperm whales were spotted. Although we'd seen a few between Kiska and Buldir, those animals were distant and the views of their tail flukes and spout were about all we had. This time the ship was able to approach the animals, and the large squarish head, wrinkled skin, small bumpy dorsal fin, angled blow, and distinctive fluke could be observed well through binoculars or extremely well through scopes, since the ship was providing such a stable platform.
Our morning had begun with the ceremonial release of four storm-petrels (three Leach's and one Fork-tailed), all of which had come onto the ship during the foggy night. The fog continued until about 10:00 a.m. and during that time we had a passerine circling us that created some excitement. By this time we were far enough west that Asian passerines were almost as likely as North American passerines, so the sight of a sparrow-sized bird circling the ship created understandable excitement. After many circles, it finally landed back among the lifeboats and was identified as a Savannah Sparrow. Perhaps the next bird on the ship will be from Asia.
During lunch we had another passerine species, this time a flock of 30 Lapland Longspurs. During the previous morning at Seguam Pass we had a Lapland Longspur and a Ruddy Turnstone calling around the ship before dawn, one mystery passerine with an odd call, a probable Orange-crowned Warbler (very far west, if so) that almost landed on the ship, and a calling American Pipit.
Near-daily sightings of Peregrine Falcons have been another oddity. On day two at sea, one flew past with a Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel in its talons, and on September 12 several of us watched a Peregrine knock a Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel down to the water as the storm-petrel tried to rapidly gain elevation and rise above the falcon. The storm-petrel spiraled to the water, clearly injured but not killed. At that point the Peregrine swept back and forth over the petrel, trying to pluck it from the water without getting too close to the sea. With aggressive fulmars lurking to make the kill, the Peregrine ultimately snagged the storm-petrel (but only after 25 or so passes), and then carried it off to eat it on the wing. The Aleutian nesting Peregrines are much darker than those elsewhere and are essentially seabirds. They nest around large seabird colonies and regularly fly 10 or more miles out to sea in search of their favored prey: storm-petrels and small alcids.
Our course today took us to the north end of Kiska Island (site of a massive seabird colony) where we had wonderful looks at Least Auklets and brief looks at several groups of Crested Auklets. From Kiska we cruised over deep water towards Buldir Island, one of the smaller and most remote of the western Aleutians. En route our chum did a fantastic job of attracting birds, and at some points we had 100+ Laysan Albatrosses behind the ship, outnumbering Black-footed Albatrosses for the first time. Other than a notable lack of Short-tailed Albatrosses (we are certainly spoiled!), this was perhaps our best chumming of all. Our only new bird was "just" a Herring Gull, but in fact, it was a Siberian "Vega" Herring Gull, which is a potential split. We had great looks at the bird, plus both kittiwakes, fulmars, Short-tailed Shearwaters, and more. Best of all we had our first sperm whales, but better looks were had later in the day.
The balance of this day was occupied with preparations for our Attu landing: a zodiac safety meeting, leader strategy sessions, and a group session on Attu birding procedure. We were divided into our three groups for Attu: wagtails, pipits, and cuckoos. Not surprisingly for a group taking three weeks to voyage to the Bering Sea in September, the cuckoos filled up first.