More Whales, Feeding
The only thing better (maybe) than watching a single humpback lunge feeding near shore is watching a group of them feeding cooperatively. The pinnacle of humpback activity as seen from boats is usually thought to be bubble-net feeding, when multiple humpbacks cooperate in corralling and harvesting prey. Bubble-net feeding might be old hat to watchers who have the advantage and luxury of many viewing days. But for those with limited viewing opportunities, seeing bubble-net feeding isn't common, and before 2023 I had never seen it. So it was a special treat to see it after many years of not seeing it.
Humpbacks are baleen whales. They harvest prey by filling their mouths with water and, hopefully, fish or krill, the prey du jour. Grooves, like pleats in a skirt, in the skin of their throats allow them to open their mouths very wide to maximize the volume of water and the targeted prey they can take in. They then force the water out through their baleen, retaining only the prey so they can swallow what they've caught.
Watching whales bubble-net feeding gives new meaning to "power lunch."
On a warm late afternoon, whales herd a school of what appears to be herring, and fill their open mouths.
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The gulls are beneficiaries, trying to harvest any of the school that might have been impaired by the whales or the turbulence of the attack or might be on the surface. The gulls can also help watchers guess where the next bubble-net attack will suddenly surface, probably because the wheeling gulls are tracking the herring school that is attracting the whales.
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Jaws are wide open.
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The pleated skin allows mouths to maximally distend.
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A small, dark object in the froth between the right-most whale is actually a small fish, probably a herring, that has so far escaped. A tighter crop of the image makes the herring a little more obvious.
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The underside of a distended mouth is strikingly large. A gull awaits, ready to drop in if a vulnerable herring appears.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.