I’m on a bit of an editing roll. Here are four more sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus).
I like the photo because one of the sperm whales in the background is arched slightly to the left of the image, echoing the position of the sperm whale in the foreground.
Continuing with my efforts to make progress with photo editing…thought I’d share this image.
There are 23 sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) here.
There were more in the area, up to maybe 100 or so, but it was difficult to establish a firm count, given how spread out the whales were.
The reason this shot is from behind the whales is that they passed all around me. In other words, there were on all sides, too scattered to get into a single frame until they passed and coalesced into this formation.
Besides the fact that there are 23(!) whales in one image, the whale with the open jaw makes the shot for me. Sperm whales are the largest odontocetes (toothed whales), which the open jaw underscores nicely.
This is one of the stories I intend to share (complete with wild gesticulations and punctuated expletives) at my upcoming presentation in Nantucket.
My friend Richard took this picture yesterday…of me hanging in the water watching a bunch of sperm whales cruise by:
It was an amazing experience. There were perhaps over a hundred whales in total, though they were split up in multiple groups covering a wide area.
This just happened a few hours ago:
You know? I really seem to have a knack for getting poo-ed on by whales.
So I’m sitting at dinner with three women and two guys.
I proudly proclaim that I’ve scored my first scat trick, which leads to immediate chuckles from the guys…but bewildered silence from the women.
Picture cute Japanese manga characters with baffled expressions, over-sized eyes going “blink, blink, blink” with incomprehension…and you get the idea.
The fact that I had to explain (several times) what a hat trick is, and then go on to clarify my clever cross-discipline comparison (athletics/ scatology)…well…sorta put a damper on the whole funny vibe I thought I had going. Oh well.
Anyway, in case you don’t know…”hat trick” is a term used in many sports to refer to achieving three of something, like scoring three goals.
I thought this was common knowledge, but as I learned from the befuddled expressions at dinner…obviously not.
Well, in the past few weeks, I’ve had purchasers for photographs of three different types of whale defecation.
Three. Hat Trick. Whale defecation. Scat Trick. Witty. Right?
Well I thought it was.
In any event, it’s gratifying to know that I’ve established myself as the (under-appreciated) leader in the niche field of cetacean doo doo photos.
On one level, this is a photograph of a female sperm whale executing a playful flick of her fluke at the ocean surface.
The thing about photography though, at least for me, is that images should be about more than just taking a snapshot of a particular moment in time.
Compelling photos, those that make you sit and stare for a while, are ones that convey stories. In fact, the more intricate the stories are, and the “deeper” (excuse the pun) the tales go…the more memorable the image.
Take the photo above. It’s by no means the most exciting picture of a sperm whale I’ve ever taken, but I like it…in large part because there are multiple stories embedded within the image.
I could, for instance, describe the immediate experience of having a 12-metre toothed cetacean swim up, take a look at you, then saunter off in a nonchalant manner. Woohoo!
Or…to look beyond the actual encounter…I could tell you about the series of events that led up to this face-to-face rendezvous: the dozens of whales we came across, the interactions among them, and how this particular individual seemed to fit in to the cetacean family’s activities for the day.
To go beyond even that, I could tell you about the hundreds of hours I’ve devoted over the years to sitting and waiting for whales like this…enduring extreme boredom in the process but also loving every second.
I could elaborate, and talk about how little knowledge we have about large marine mammals in general, because…well…they just don’t spend much time in places and conditions that make it easy for us to observe them. And even when they do, they often have more pressing matters to attend to than entertaining inquisitive landlubbers.
I could tell you about how this whale and its family group were similar to, and different from, other sperm whale families I’ve encountered in the past.
I could tell you about the first time I met a sperm whale, about how scared I was due to ignorance (they do have big mouths and big teeth, after all); how it decided to take my leg into its mouth (which, naturally, exacerbated my trepidation); and how I finally ended up making friends with the inquisitive animal (after taking back possession of all my limbs), resulting an experience that literally changed the course of my life.
Stepping back even more, I could tell you about the sad history of men and leviathans, about how “intelligent” humans, for many years, saw these majestic animals as a source of blubber and spermaceti…used to make truly important things like margarine.
My point is this: Stories are to images as souls are to people.
There has been and continues to be a lot of chatter on the net about gear…new cameras, different formats, amazing lenses, manufacturer A vs. manufacturer B, lighting modifiers, and so forth.
Gear is important. There is no question about it.
But when it comes time to create an image, it’s what you do with the gear that matters. It’s the story/ stories you convey.
In the final analysis, it’s the soul of the image that counts, not your choice of hardware.
If you’ve been following my ramblings in recent months, it’s probably obvious that I’ve been spending an increasing proportion of my time with large cetaceans. My schedule for next year is no exception, with 12 to 13 weeks or so planned for sitting on a boat staring at the ocean hoping something will show up whale photography.
For those of you who are crazy enough to contemplate joining me on one of these adventures, I’ve set out basic trip descriptions below.
If you read on, you’ll no doubt notice that many of the trips are already booked. This is because I keep a list of people who contact me in advance, and I do my best to get in touch with anyone who’s expressed interest before announcing trips on my blog. I also send out an e-newsletter in advance of posting to this site.
If you’d like to get a heads-up for future trips, please contact me via my contact form, or sign up for my trip newsletter.
Please let me know if you’re interested, even if the itinerary you’re keen on is full, as I keep a wait list for each of the trips. Life happens sometimes, and people who’ve signed up end up needing to change their plans.
Blue Whales, Sperm Whales in Sri Lanka
Dates: March/ April 2012
Availability: Fully booked
This trip requires someone who is accustomed to less-than-ideal circumstances, can deal with frustration, and can accept the possibility of being totally and utterly skunked.
Sounds like fun, no?
To be a good fit for this adventure, you need to be very, very experienced in the water, be easy-going and cooperative, and have a stable, mature personality.
On the upside, there is the prospect of seeing scenes like the images below, as well as other potential surprises:
Minke Whales in Australia
Dates: 28 June to 7 July
Availability: One spot available
Location: Fly into/ out of Cairns, transfer to Port Douglas
Accommodation: Liveaboard trip
Minke whales have been on my to-do list for a long time. As far as baleen whales go, they’re relatively small, running six to ten metres in length. They’re inquisitive…as in, they’ll come right up to boats and people in the water given the right mood. They’re also reasonably easy to find…if you get the timing and location right.
For these reasons, I’ve planned a trip Down Under to spend some quality time with the minkes that congregate at the Great Barrier Reef.
The plan is to get on a boat in Port Douglas on 28 June, cruise overnight to minke central and sit there until we leave on 6 July to head back. That’s eight full days with minkes, only minkes, and just minkes.
We’ll be in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, so we’ll be following the well-established guidelines for in-water interactions with the small cetaceans, letting the whales dictate the pace and proximity of interactions.
I specifically picked the timing for this trip based on advice from my friends John Rumney, who is one of the leading authorities on minkes Down Under, and Julia Sumerling, who has many years of minke experience under her belt from working as the video/ photo pro on Mike Ball’s boat.
To cut to the chase, our trip will be during peak, peak minke time.
For whatever reason, the minkes show up like clockwork at this time, and more importantly, they demonstrate the greatest level of interest in people around this period.
Incidentally, the minkes in this area are a subspecies known as dwarf minke whales, which were first described in 1986. From what I gather, there is still no population estimate for this subspecies, and no consensus on the taxonomy for minke whales in general.
For more information about the dwarf minkes, please see the excellent summary prepared by the CRC Reef Research Centre (PDF file).
Humpbacks Whales in Alaska
Dates: 22 to 31 July
Availability: Fully booked
Location: Trip begins and ends at Juneau, Alaska
Accommodation: Liveaboard
This is the Megaptera Mania! trip I’m running with Jon Cornforth.
I’m really excited about heading to Alaska for the first time. I’m not so keen on the fact that it’ll be colder than I normally like, but bubble-net feeding and dramatic, mountainous terrain in the background will hopefully make it worthwhile, and also worth a repeat visit in 2013.
Humpback Whales in Tonga
As soon as we wrap up in Alaska, I’ll be heading over to Tonga for my annual stay, and to continue my calf count project. After the record number of baby whales I ID-ed this year, I can’t wait to see what happens in 2012!
My schedule for Tonga is still evolving, but here’s how it looks at this time:
Trip 1: 21 to 28 August. This is the second part of the Megaptera Mania! trip. Fully booked.
Trip 2: 29 August to 06 September. Two spots available.
Trip 3: 08 to 17 September. Fully booked.
Trip 4: 25 September to 3 October. Four spots available.
A confluence of circumstances has kept me from posting anything since I hunkered down and cranked out my calf count summary at the end of October.
I’ve answered approximately three million emails (give or take a handful); I’ve caught up on current events (given the way things are going, I kinda wish I hadn’t); I’ve finally rid my site of hacks that were doing all sorts of funky things (in the worst possible connotation of the word funky); I’ve had a bunch of meetings (both physical and virtual); I’ve helped judge a photo contest; I’ve hit the gym and gotten back into decent shape; I’ve organised most of my trips for next year; I’ve read a pile of research papers about cetaceans and other marine life; I’ve managed to sleep at least a few hours a night; and I’ve even gotten some work done. Whew.
By way of proof that I’ve actually been working, here is a video of sperm whales that Smithsonian Magazine posted recently to complement an article about these amazing animals in the December 2011 issue, titled Call of the Leviathan:
The footage is from recent trips I took to Dominica and Ogasawara to photograph sperm whales. I can’t take credit for the excellent editing though. Brendan, the photo editor at Smithsonian Magazine, did a bang-up job of making my footage look decent. (Thank you Brendan!)
And this is a link to an interview I did with Radio Australia recently about the humpback whales in Tonga. It’s short, but important.
Here’s the audio in case you can’t access the link:
There were suggestions by another person in an earlier interview that humpback whales use their pectoral fins to stroke swimmers in the water, sometimes even lifting swimmers en masse into the air out of exuberance. Poppycock.
I’m the first to admit that being in the water with humpbacks can be a magical, almost mystical, experience, but there’s no good that can come of people visiting Tonga and expecting to be stroked by whales. None whatsoever.
Bruce Hill, the presenter of Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat program, was kind enough to give me an opportunity to set more realistic, and safe, expectations for anyone who might be contemplating a trip to Tonga. (Thanks Bruce!)
Anyway, I’m back at the helm, and I’ll be posting more from now on, including information about upcoming trips.
To get back into the swing of things, here is one of my favourite humpback whale fluke photos. It was a stormy day back in 2005, and it’s the only time I’ve ever seen two adult humpbacks tandem tail-slapping. Their slaps weren’t in sync, plus the seas were rocky, so it took quite a few tries to nail the right timing and composition.
If you happen to read Italian, here is a link to a PDF file of a pictorial on sperm whales that appeared in Focus Magazine Italy‘s summer issue: Focus Magazine Sperm Whale Feature, Summer 2011 (350kB).
It’s the first time I’ve worked with this publication. I have to say that they are a truly friendly and professional team that made the process of working long-distance a pleasant experience.
If you’re reading this, it probably won’t come as much of a surprise to you, but whales are not fish. They’re mammals, and they need to breathe air, just like us.
Yeah…I know. It’s something that should be obvious, but it’s amazing how often otherwise well-educated people ask me about what it’s like to swim with “such a big fish”. I guess it’s just a symptom of how little humanity collectively understands about the ocean. Sigh.
Anyway, here’s a photograph of a very relaxed sperm whale coming up for a breath of fresh air after diving down to forage for food:
Sperm whale surfacing from the deep to take a breath of air
If you look carefully, you can just make out the whitish area around the jaw of another sperm whale behind this beautiful female. The pair came up together, chilled out for a bit, then headed back down to the deep blue.
If you ever come across a sperm whale or two at the surface, take some time to look around. These whales often synchronise their dives and surface intervals, so when you see one, there’s a reasonable chance that are there more within visual range.
A few people have written me to ask how I know if a sperm whale is female or male.
In general, family units of sperm whales comprise mature females together with juvenile and baby whales. According to everything I’ve read about sperm whales, such family units tend to be found in temperate and tropical regions.
When little boy sperm whales get bigger and become young men, they leave these groups and travel to colder climates (north in the northern hemisphere, south in the southern), where they presumably go to eat a lot, hang out with the other boys, and get ready to return at some point to seek out mate(s).
By the time male sperm whales return to lower latitudes for reproduction, they’re big. Absolutely humongous. Think of it this way:
Mature bull sperm whale: female or immature sperm whale
=
Sumo wrestler: figure skater
So from a practical point of view, when you see a big boy, there’s no mistake.
It’s also possible to differentiate by “looking under the skirt”, so to speak, as pictured below:
See the whale’s mammary glands adjacent to the genital slit?
You can see two small mammary slits adjacent to the larger genital slit. Boy whales don’t have those.
This is a pattern common to many (perhaps all?) cetaceans. Dolphins and humpback whales I’ve been in the water with, for example, have a similar morphology, making it easy to identify a given whale’s sex…provided that they’re not shy, of course.
To balance out the sperm whale poop photo I posted the other day, here’s a pretty photo of a sperm whale:
Adult female sperm whale swimming upside-down to check me out with sonar
This is an adult female, one of several in a family unit that I came across foraging for food. When I took this photo, she had just swum underneath and past me, turned upside down.
Sperm whales seem to adopt this belly-up position a lot when they’re checking things out at the surface. I’m guessing that the flip-flopped orientation provides them with an optimal sonar image, which makes sense if they hunt “looking down”, so to speak, with their sonar when they dive deep in search of a meal.
It’s difficult to tell from this jpg, but the whale has her (very small) eyes closed. She had her eyes open until she was quite close to me. I’m not sure if this has any significance or not…but it’s cute.
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