On our epic whale watch yesterday, my big telephoto lens was NOT the right tool for the job on this particular day - the action was too close! Most of the shots I did take are too chaotic, but I did manage a few including this one, which I love. There are so many details to enjoy here.

1. The water behind and around the whale is bubbling and foaming from all of the whale and bird activity on the surface.

2. All the birds swarming in. The pictured birds don't dive, so they need their food at the surface and the whales delivered. The gulls would frequently land on the whales while at the surface, only to jump into the sky again when the whale submerged.
3. Those hairs on the top jaw are baleen, which is made of keratin, same as our fingernails. It acts as a strainer so the whales can push all the water out of their mouth but keep the food in. So cool to see!
4. Their lower chin has the grooves in the skin that allow the area to greatly expand as they swim through their prey scooping up water and food alike. Once they complete their pass, they push their tongues to the roof of their mouth and push the water out through the baleen. You can see the throat is still expanded as this whale hasn't yet pushed all of the water out.
5. Just above the waterline, there are live barnacles growing on the skin of the whale. This seems really uncomfortable, but so many have it. There are also white rings from old barnacles that have fallen off.
6. The bumps on the whales skin are called tubercles and have a single hair protruding from them (which you can see if you zoom in!).

I LOVE that I can see all of this anatomy and detail in this photo. They talk about this stuff on every whale watch we go on, but it's so great to see it up close and personal. Shout out to 7 Seas Whale Watch for wandering all over the place to find this amazing encounter.

Prints: briangweber.com/featured/whale…

#whales #newengland #nature #whalewatch #atlantic #bubbles #wildlife #marinemammals 📷 🦑 🐳