The call came early this morning, well before breakfast, that cooperative humpback whale bubble net feeding was observed form the bridge. This animal behavior is unique and quite extraordinary. It is only seen here in Southeast Alaska. As the humpback whales make their way from the breeding grounds of Hawaii to the feeding grounds of Alaska an interesting phenomena occurs. The whales, both males and females but unrelated come together as a group, sometimes a small number of 4-5; other groups are quite large with more than 15 animals involved. These groups get together and using specific tools corral herring and other prey to the surface of the water where they are devoured by the huge mass of marine mammals. Using their flukes to move the fish, their voices to further scare the prey and bubbles to hem them in, the whales create a huge aggregation of fish. We were witness to this cooperative feeding again and again as the whales went through their paces. The conditions were ideal as the seas were calm enough to see the bubbles at the surface which would show where the whales would appear.
We saw two different groups in Chatham Straight performing this behavior both before and after breakfast. We finally had to leave to make our way south to our afternoon’s destination. Along the way we met up with Dr. Andy Zabo who runs the Alaska Whale Foundation- a NGO that does research on humpback whales and their feeding behaviors.
The afternoon was spent in Kelp Bay at a place called Pond Island. This small island is home to a large beaver pond. Different walks were offered as well as paddle boarding in the bay for those who wanted to enjoy the placid conditions.
During the evening we made our way south towards our next day’s adventure.
