2nd Grade

5.16.19

With right whales in our backyard, whale watching is starting up and our first intern of the year has been on a handful of trips so far. The humpbacks are just starting to arrive in their feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine and they are definitely hungry - so far we haven’t seen them do anything but eat! We hope they continue to use bubble nets and feed at the surface so we will have lots of cool photos to share with you in your next update when we get out on the water more!

In the first three weeks of whale watching so far, Crystal has yet to be seen, which isn’t unusual. However, we have enjoyed spending our last couple of whale watches with some of his family members! Crystal’s sister, Mostaza, has been eating her heart out in one of the ‘hotspots’ in our whale watching area. She has made friends with another adult female named Venom and the two of them have been partners in crime so far, always being side by side. We have also seen one of Mostaza’s calf who was born in 2014, which makes him or her Crystal’s niece or nephew. We aren’t sure yet if this whale, who we now call this humpback “Toboggan” is a boy or girl but we do know that it was really cool to see Toboggan and Mostaza in the same feeding group!

3.1.19

Crystal is a mature male humpback who was born in 1980. He is the oldest known calf of Salt, the grand dame of the Gulf of Maine humpback whales, therefor he was named as a tribute to his mother. He has at least twelve known siblings. His fluke pattern was immortalized in a chocolate bar by a candy company and he has been in a children's book and a murder mystery novel.