Bonavista, Newfoundland–part 3–Whales

After hiking the Skerwink trail (Bonavista part 2), I headed to Cape Bonavista up a trail where I had seen whales a couple of weeks before.  As soon as I got there I heard the blow of a whale and looked down.  One was right below me.

And then the most unexpected thing happened.

I think this is called lunge feeding.  The second picture is a cropped close-up of the first picture.  In it you can actually see the capelin (small fish) that were lucky enough to not become part of the whales lunch.   You may need to click on it to expand the picture to see it.

At this point I was by myself on a small point overlooking the ocean.  Within 5 – 10 minutes I was joined by several other people as this whale and others continued feeding on the capelin that were in the area.

2 at once --

Below is a series of shots. I was curious about the expanding throat and found this information on http://humpbackwhale.homestead.com/Humpback-Whale-Mouth-Open.html -- “the whales will rise to the surface from beneath with it's mouth wide open when it hits the surface, it then closes it's mouth and pushes the water through it's baleen which acts as a strainer separating the food from the water, the water passes through and the food stays behind and is consumed by the whale.”

 

One feeding while another swims by --

I missed a lot of shots, as soon as you heard them and found where it came from  much of the action was already over.  So you had to be fast and basically have the camera pointed at the right place before they came up.  Many shots ended up like the few below. 

I learned to get a shot, I was better off not zoomed in a lot as with a wider angle I had a better chance to actually get a shot! If I had more time here (weeks) then I would take a chance with more zoom.  A lesson for next time!!!

5 Humpbacks --