Our Arctic trips stretch across the top of the world from Russia, Canada, Greenland and Iceland to Spitsbergen. Many species of whales can be found here in the summer months, although we consider sighting whales in the Arctic a bonus rather than a guarantee. Seventeen species of whales, including dolphins and porpoises, can be found in the Arctic. There are three whale species that spend their entire lives in the Arctic, moving between summer feeding and wintering areas within the region—the narwhal, beluga and bowhead whales. Others, such as the humpback and gray whale, migrate to warmer waters during the northern winter to give birth.
If you choose a Canadian Arctic trip with a routing past Isabella Bay, south of the Inuit village of Clyde River on Baffin Island, you might have an opportunity to see a bowhead whale. This area is a sanctuary for the bowheads. I have also been fortunate enough to see them in the Amundsen Gulf area on a Northwest Passage trip.
If you head north from Clyde River to Lancaster Sound, east towards Resolute and north, you may have a chance of finding beluga whales and catch a quick glimpse of narwhals. Belugas can also be found further south of Baffin Island and into Hudson Bay.
As you head down the coast of Labrador, fin and humpback whales can be sighted. The same for areas around Newfoundland—I have even seen a blue whale in these waters. This is also the area for the remnant population of North Atlantic right whales. As the population numbers less than 400 individuals, a sighting would certainly be a highlight!
Along the coast of Greenland, fin, blue, minke and humpback whales have been sighted. For Spitsbergen, the most common species to be seen are the beluga whales. Humpbacks and fin whales have been sighted with more frequency over the last few years. The offshore banks provide good habitat, but we usually travel closer to the islands in the archipelago. In 2006, a bowhead whale (known as the Greenland whale locally) was spotted near one of the docks in Longyearbyen.
The most likely whales to be seen on an Arctic trip:
I will describe the beluga, narwhal and bowhead below (the others are described under Antarctic whales).
Beluga whale: Delphinapterus leucas
The beluga, a medium-size toothed whale, is white—a color adaptation to its environment as it lives primarily in the Arctic. Its color is also the source of its name, which comes from the Russian word for white. Some scientists call this whale "belukha", to differentiate it from the beluga sturgeon (the fish from which we get caviar). Thick blubber makes it possible for the beluga to live in extremely cold water, and a back with no dorsal fin allows it to move freely under ice. Belugas are relatively slow swimmers; they swim about 2-6 mph (3 to 9 kph). Belugas were known as "sea canaries" by the early explorers, because of their songs and chatter, which can even be heard above the water. Unlike other whales, they have a flexible neck that allows them to move their head up, down and to the side.
Adult males measure 14-16 feet (5 meters), with a maximum length of 20 feet (5.3 meters), and weigh about 3,300 pounds. Adult females measure 13-14 feet (3.9-4.2 meters) with a maximum length of 17 feet (5.2 meters), and weigh about 3,000 pounds. Females are considerably smaller than males on the eastern side of the Atlantic.
Because it has no dorsal (back) fin, the beluga can swim freely under floating ice. Instead of a fin it has a narrow ridge, which runs down the rear half of its back. The ridge is sometimes notched, and may be a darker color. Its flippers are short, broad and curled up at the tip in adults. The fluke is broad with a deep central notch.
Key features to identify the species: The primary distinguishing feature is its color—white. The young are grayish and become whiter with age. There is a ridge along the back, but there is no dorsal fin. They travel in pods along coastlines and can also be found in river estuaries in the spring/summer months where they gather to calve and or feed. The head is blunt, with a small beak.
Narwhal: Monodon monoceros
The narwhal is famous for the long ivory tusk which spirals counter clockwise several feet forward from its head. The tusk is actually the whale's left tooth. Male narwhal, and some females, have two teeth. Usually only the left tooth becomes a tusk, but there are occasionally whales with double tusks.
Like belugas, narwhals have no dorsal (back) fin, but they have an uneven ridge along the spine on the rear part of the back. The outer tip of each short flipper is curved upwards. The flukes are fan-shaped with a deep notch like the beluga.
Key features to identify the species: The most distinctive feature is the long tusk of the males. The narwhal is a chunky, stocky whale with a small rounded head. From a distance, the only other whale that you might confuse it with is the beluga whale, which is all white in the adult. Narwhals are counter shaded—they are dark on top and light on the bottom. Newborn calves are dark blue-gray, and as they grow the back turns olive brown and develops the leopard spotting pattern common in adults.
Bowhead whale: Balaena mysticetus
The bowhead whale, formerly known by Yankee whalers as the Greenland right whale, is a taxonomic relative of the right whale. It received its name from the high, arched upper jaw that somewhat resembles the shape of an archer's bow. Bowheads live at the southern edges of the Arctic ice during winter and move into leads through broken and melting ice during summers. Bowhead whales have been an important subsistence item for Arctic native hunters for centuries. The blubber (muktuk in Alaskan Inuit), muscle, and certain internal organs provide valuable energy-rich food; the baleen is used to make implements, baskets (from the hairy fringes) and works of art; and the bone is used for housing construction, tool handles, etc.
The baleen plates, that they use to filter their food, are the longest baleen of any whale, measuring up to 14 feet (4.3 meters) in length and 12 inches (30 cm) in width. While feeding, a bowhead whale skims through the water with its mouth open. As water flows into the mouth and through the baleen, prey is trapped on the inside near the tongue to be swallowed.
Adult males reach physical maturity at 50 feet (15 meters) and may weigh in excess of 60 tons (54,431 kg). Sexual maturity is reached at 38 feet (11.6 meters). Adult females are slightly larger than males at both physical and sexual maturity. Maximum length exceeds 60 feet (18.3 m).
Key features to identify the species: Like the beluga and the narwhal, the bowhead has no dorsal fin. It is the only baleen whale without a dorsal fin, because it lives in association with the ice. The deeply-notched flukes of a mature bowhead whale can measure 25 feet (7.6 meters) from tip to tip and can be used to identify them as well. Its head is immense making up nearly one-third of the bowhead's total body length. The mouth can be as long as 16 feet (4.9 meters) in length, 12 feet (3.7 meters) high, and 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide and its tongue weighs about 1 ton (907 kg). In profile, a bowhead whale's head is triangular in shape, which may be an adaptation that enables the whale to break through the ice to breathe. Bowhead whales have a high bridge (termed the "stack") on which sit the nostrils—with this are able to smash through ice that is 1-2 feet thick to breathe, presumably as they visually follow the long cracks and valleys we now know mark the bottom of the ice. There are two blowholes located at the highest point of the head that send two bushy, V-shaped blows 13 feet (4 meters) in the air. While swimming, only the bowhead whale's triangular head and rounded back show above the surface of the water.
Written by Dennis Mense, Sales Director/Expedition Leader for Travelwild Expeditions
Special thanks to Uko Gorter for all illustrations (www.ukogorter.com)—provided courtesy of American Cetacean Society (www.acsonline.org).
Your Antarctica cruise may be enhanced by the presence of several species of whales along your route. Watching for whales at sea demands concentration and patience—you need to spend time on deck as many of the sightings are fleeting. Once in the Antarctic Peninsula region, you may be fortunate enough to have them approach your ship or Zodiac. The more common species that you are likely to see are also the easiest to identify.
The humpback, minke and fin whales belong to a group of whales known as baleen whales. They have two blowholes on the top of their head—as opposed to one blowhole on the toothed whales. This family also includes the blue whale, Bryde's whale and sei whale. They have three characteristics in common: dorsal fins on their backs, ventral pleats running from the tip of the lower jaw back to the belly area, and baleen for feeding. Baleen is a series of fringed overlapping plates hanging from each side of the upper jaw, where teeth might otherwise be located. These plates consist of a fingernail-like material called keratin that frays out into fine hairs on the ends inside the mouth near the tongue. After the whale takes in a large amount of water and closes its mouth, the baleen is used like a strainer to trap the krill, fish and other organisms while the water is forced out.
Baleen whales breed in tropical waters in the north and gestation lasts 11-12 months, so that both mating and birthing occur at the same time of year. After three months of rich feeding in the south, they migrate back to the temperate waters to give birth to a single calf, one year after mating. Mothers give birth to a single young, which is weaned after 6-12 months, depending on the species.
Except for the 12 species of baleen whales, all other cetacean species have teeth. Toothed whales are for the most part smaller than baleen whales; most toothed whales are small dolphins and porpoises. The exceptions are the killer whale or orca and the sperm whale. In the Antarctic the main toothed whale that you have a chance to see is the killer whale, although I have seen a sperm whale diving near Cape Horn. I have also spotted several species of dolphins—Commerson’s, dusky, hourglass and Peale’s—near the southern tip of South America and the Falkland Islands. Toothed whales are active hunters—sperm and killer whales feed on fish, squid and, in the case of the killer whales, marine mammals.
Vocalizations are of great importance to toothed whales. While many species also utilize a broad variety of calls to communicate, all species investigated so far use short click sounds for purposes of echolocation.
The most likely whales to be seen in the Antarctic:
Humpback
Minke
Orca or killer whale
Fin
Other whales that I or others have sighted on trips to the Antarctic:
Pilot whales in the Drake Passage
Sperm whale off Cape Horn
Southern right whales in the area around Deception Island and southwest toward the Gerlache Strait
Beaked whales—can be very difficult to identify. Southern bottlenose whale between South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. There are other beaked whales that we have seen and have both positive and possible IDs on—they are very elusive and hard to sort out, but they are there. I have even seen them breaching.
Blue whale—a few have been sighted southwest of Deception, heading for the Gerlache Strait, and between South Georgia and the Peninsula. I’ve only one confirmed sighting.
Sei whale—while I've never seen them in Antarctica, others have
Humpback whale – Megaptera novaeangliae
The shape and color pattern on the humpback whale's dorsal fin and flukes (tail) are as individual in each animal as are fingerprints in humans. Using these characteristics, individuals are identified, catalogued and monitored, providing valuable information about such things as humpback whale population sizes, migration, sexual maturity and behavior patterns. If you end up with good photo ID shots, the staff onboard can advise you where to send the pictures.
Adult males measure 40-48 feet (12.2-14.6 meters), adult females measure 45-50 feet (13.7-15.2 meters). They weigh 25 to 40 tons (22,680-36,287 kg). Humpback whales feed on krill (small shrimp-like crustaceans) and various kinds of small fish. Each whale eats up to 1.5 tons (1,361 kg) of food a day.
Key features to identify the species: Humpbacks have a very low stubby dorsal (top) fin about two-thirds of the way back on their body. Their long front flippers, which can be one-third of the length of the body is one key characteristic. The broad and serrated tail flukes have an underside showing white. When they dive deep the tail fluke will be lifted straight up and this is when researchers will take a photograph for identification. When diving Humpbacks arch their backs or hump up—therefore the name humpback. They tend to be the more active of the whales that we see. They will jump clear out of the water (breach) or wave and slap their long front flippers on the water.
Minke whale: Balaenoptera bonaerensis
The minke whale is the smallest member of the baleen whale family. One of its most distinctive features is the narrow, triangular rostrum (upper jaw) which is proportionally shorter than in other baleen whales. The minke is counter-shaded—black to dark gray on top, white below. Some minkes have a light-colored chevron on the back behind the head. Two areas of lighter gray appear on each side: one behind the flippers and another below and forward of the dorsal fin.
Adult males average about 26 feet (8 meters) with a maximum length of 31 feet (9.4 meters), while adult females average 27 feet (8.2 meters) with a maximum length of 33 feet (10.2 m). Both males and females weigh about 10 tons. Both sexes are slightly larger in the southern hemisphere.
Key features to identify the species: Small, slim head proportionately small with pointed snout. The dorsal fin of the minke is tall and falcate (curved), and is located two-thirds of the way back on the body. Its flippers are slender and pointed at the tips. Flukes are broad, up to one-fourth of the body length, pointed at the tips and notched in the center. The dwarf minke of the Antarctic has a white band on each flipper extending to the shoulder.
Killer whale or orca: Orcinus orca
The killer whale is a toothed whale and is the largest dolphin. It has been extensively studied in the wild and researchers now identify three ecotypes (distinct forms) of killer whales from Antarctica, based on field observations and photographs, designated as types A, B and C.
Type A appears to be a ‘‘regular’’ killer whale: a large, black and white form with a medium-sized white eye patch. It inhabits open waters in Antarctica and apparently feeds mainly on Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis). Type B is a gray, black and white form with a dorsal cape and a very large white eye patch; it inhabits loose pack ice and appears to specialize in feeding on pinnipeds. Type C is also a gray, black, and white form with a dorsal cape, but it has a narrow, slanted eye patch; it lives in dense pack ice and apparently eats mainly fish. Based on consistent differences in morphology and ecology, and a lack of evidence for interbreeding among these at least partially sympatric forms, it was suggested that types B, C, or both may represent new species of killer whales. (Pitman and Ensor 2003.) http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/dwrfkllrwhale/
Males can grow as large as 32 feet (9.6 meters) long and weigh 8 to 9 tons. Females can reach 23 feet (8.2 meters) in length and weigh up to 4 tons.
Key features to identify the species: The orca has a striking color pattern. The dorsal (top) part of its body is black, with a pale white to gray "saddle" behind the dorsal fin. It has an oval, white eye patch behind and above each eye. Each whale can be individually identified by its markings and by the shape of its saddle patch and dorsal fin. Another distinctive feature of the orca is its dorsal fin, which can reach 6 feet (1.8 meter) high in males and is shaped like an isosceles triangle. The immature male and the female dorsal fins are also large, reaching 3 feet (.91 meters) high, but are falcate (curved). The dorsal fin often has identifying nicks, cuts, scars and indentations.
Fin whale: Balaenoptera physalus:
Like the humpback and the minke, the fin whale is a baleen whale. It is the second largest whale and is very fast—clocked at speeds up to 23 mph or 37km/hr.
Adult males measure up to 78 feet (24 meters) in the northern hemisphere and 88 feet (26.8 meters) in the southern hemisphere. Females are slightly larger than males. Weight for both sexes is between 50-70 tons (45,360-63,500 kg).
Key features to identify the species: The most prominent feature is the creamy white lower jaw on the right side, while the left side is gray or black. The fin whale is light gray to brownish-black on its back and sides. Two lighter "colored" chevrons begin midline behind the blowholes and slant down the sides towards the fluke (tail) before turning and ending right behind the eye. The underside of its body, flippers and fluke are white. It has a slightly falcate (curved) dorsal fin located far back on its body andis larger than the comparatively small dorsal fin of the blue whale.
Written by Dennis Mense, Sales Director/Expedition Leader for Travelwild Expeditions
Special thanks to Uko Gorter for all illustrations (www.ukogorter.com)—provided courtesy of American Cetacean Society (www.acsonline.org).
The two main types of binoculars, as well as the various advantages and disadvantages of each type, were discussed in a previous post. The main objective of this post is to give you some pointers on effectively adjusting and using your binoculars in the field. Ultimately, you will learn more about binocular use by practicing with them in the field, but this post will give you some basics to get you started. You’ll first learn how to adjust your binocs, and then we’ll cover the two field methods for using them to spot wildlife and other subjects.
Adjusting Your Binoculars
Taking a few minutes to do two simple adjustments will make a world of difference in what you see through your binoculars. You are aiming for an oval-shaped field of vision when looking through them. Here’s how to achieve maximum performance.
The first adjustment needed is to align the exit pupils of your binocs. Look through your binocs and then draw them away from your face, about 12 – 18 inches. You should see two circles of light through the ocular lenses (the lenses that are closest to your eyes when using your binocs). These are the exit pupils. You will want to adjust them so the distance between them is equal to the distance between the pupils of your eyes. The easiest way to do this is to start with the exit pupils as close as possible, look through your binoculars and expand the distance between them until your field of view is maximized.
The second adjustment compensates for any vision difference between your right eye and left eye. This is done using your binoculars’ diopter ring. On roof prism binocs (see previous article/link) the diopter is often located on the center focusing ring, between the binoc’s barrels. On Porro binocs, the diopter is often found on the right eyepiece. To make this adjustment, look through your binocs with only your left eye—close your right eye. Use the center focusing ring to focus on a distant subject so that it is clear to your left eye. Once you’ve done that, be sure not to change the center focus ring. Keeping your left eye open, open your right eye and turn the diopter until the subject appears focused with both eyes. Voila! You’re done adjusting your binocs.
Using Your Binoculars
While using binoculars may seem self-evident, there are a couple of tried-and-true techniques for efficient binocular use—especially when using them to locate wildlife in large expanses, such as pack ice, along shorelines and bird cliffs.
Scanning
Set your binocs on the most distant setting (infinity) and slowly sweep the landscape from one side to the other watching for subjects of interest. Adjust the magnification level and continue scanning. I’ve stood in groups of several dozen people all scanning the horizon and I’ve been amazed at the skill some of our expedition staff have at using binocs. Almost invariably they were the first to spot polar bears in the pack ice or whales spouting in Antarctica. This supports the idea that your binoc skills improve with use—so practice whenever possible.
Spotting
Say you’ve found something while scanning with your binoculars, or perhaps with your naked eye. Now you want to zoom in on the subject to get a better view. Don’t take your eyes off your subject! If you spotted the subject while scanning, it’s pretty obvious that you can simply increase your magnification and refocus to your liking until the subject is clear and enlarged in your field of vision through the binocs. But what if you spot something without using your binocs and want to get a closer look? Keep looking at the subject and slowly raise your binocs to your eyes. You have a much better chance of finding the subject through the binocs if you don’t move your head or eyes while doing this. Again, the name of the game is practice!
When it comes to choosing items to bring along on a cruise to Antarctica or the Arctic, one of the true “essentials” is a pair of quality binoculars. Arriving on my first Spitsbergen cruise without a pair of my own, I quickly learned how much there is to be gained by having binoculars as I borrowed pair after pair from fellow travelers and trip leaders. How embarrassing to be the TravelWild office representative and not have brought my own binocs. Never again!
Perhaps the only benefit of borrowing so many pairs of binoculars is that it gave me the opportunity to try out a number different pairs and learn how they compare. Up to that point, I considered binoculars to be, well, binoculars. Beyond magnification, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to the factors that make a good, useful pair of binoculars. But, as I tried out at least a dozen different pairs, it quickly became clear that there’s a lot more to binoculars than simply magnification.
Myself notwithstanding, most people inherently understand the benefits of bringing a pair of binoculars on a nature and wildlife trip. What may not be as obvious to many are the different types of binoculars and their various features, advantages and disadvantages. In this post, I will cover the different types of binocs available.
There are two types of binoculars, Porro prism and roof prism.
Porro prism binoculars utilize right-angle prisms in each of a binocular’s two barrels. These prisms reflect, or bend, the light on its path from the subject to your eye. When they were invented, they allowed for a smaller, more compact unit than the common alternative of the day, telescopes. The main advantages of Porro binocs are that they allow in a substantial amount of light—the more light, the easier it is to see your subject—and, compared to roof prism binocs, they offer a wider angle of view and can be focused faster and closer to your subject.
One disadvantage of Porro prism binocs is that they tend to be relatively heavy and bulky as compared to roof prism binocs. Additionally, over time, normal wear and tear of using these binocs in the field—an occasional drop, stowing them in a backpack that gets tossed around, etc.—can cause the prisms to go out of alignment making images appear distorted.
A good pair of Porro prism binoculars typically costs $100-$300. When shopping for Porro prism binoculars, we strongly suggest you buy a pair with center focusing. Center focusing binocs allow you to simultaneously focus both eyepieces—much easier than using binocs that require each eyepiece to be focused independently.
Roof prism binoculars get their name from the system of prisms—typically five of them—located in each barrel. The arrangement of these prisms is said to have resembled the shape of roofs found on late 19th-century German houses.
The primary advantages of roof prism binocs is that they are lighter and smaller than Porros. Their shape—which roughly resembles the letter “H”—also makes handling them easier than the bulkier, M-shaped Porros. Roof prism binocs also tend to be more durable due to the fact that most of their focusing mechanism is internal and therefore better protected from the elements.
The down side of roof prism binocs is that the 5-prism system causes a slight loss of light, so images will often appear slightly darkened. Furthermore, these binocs don’t focus as closely to your subject, which can be frustrating. They also tend to cost more than Porros—typically $250 – $1,000. There’s a price to pay for a smaller, sleeker, more-durable set of binoculars!
Both Porro and roof prism binoculars now are available with image stabilization. You may already be familiar with image stabilization—many digital cameras and camcorder have this useful feature. As a general rule, image stabilization adds to the weight, size and cost of binoculars. You will want to try pairs with and without this feature to decide if it’s worth the added cost and weight. If you’re shopping for binocs with very strong magnification, give additional consideration to image stabilization as the stronger the magnification, the harder it is to hold binocs steady.
And, finally, we come to magnification—the feature most of us are familiar with. While most people understand that the stronger the magnification, the “farther” you can see (or “closer” a subject is brought to your eye), they often aren’t familiar with the way magnification is referenced. Binoculars magnification is usually represented with two numbers, such as 7x35 or 10x40. The first number indicates how many times a subject will be magnified by the binocs. For example, when using 7x binocs, a distant object will appear 7 times larger through the binocs than it does to the naked eye. The second number represents the diameter of the objective lens in millimeters. As a rule, the larger the objective lens, the more light the binocs will let in, thereby making it easier to see your subject.
That covers the basics on types of binoculars. Check back for a future post on using binoculars or, better yet, subscribe to our email updates and you’ll automatically receive notification when new posts are added (usually a couple each month).
If your life is such that you have flexibility in when you travel, check out the savings on several fast approaching Antarctica cruises. Discounts on February 2009 Antarctica cruises are for a very limited time and offer up to $2,000 in cruise and travel savings.
For specific details, contact Dennis or Lyn in our office at 800-368-0077. This is a great opportunity to see the White Continent and save money in the process. Don't wait, these discounts only apply to a few select upcoming cruises and the remaining space will not last long!
George and Jodie Harper have traveled extensively throughout the world—including a 10,000+ mile multi-year tandem bike ride around the periphery of the US—but they claim Antarctica is perhaps the greatest wilderness destination they’ve visited. After years of dreaming about visiting the White Continent, the couple finally made the trip on our Classic Antarctica cruise aboard the Professor Multinovskiy. One of the highlights of their trip was a close encounter with humpback whales and they’ve been kind enough to share with us a few photos from this experience.
With 90% of the world’s fresh water locked in its icy landscape, Antarctica is the focus of much attention when it comes to global warming. If even a small percentage of the continent's glaciers were to melt, it would have a huge impact worldwide. With this in mind, monitoring Antarctica’s ice shelves has become critically important. One monitoring project involves a yellow submarine which will dive beneath an ice shelf near Pine Island in Antarctica to study how deep ocean currents may cause ice shelves to break off. You can read the full story at the link below:
Last month we posted a link to Part 1 of Joe and Mary Ann McDonald's articles on photographing on Antarctica cruises. As promised, below is a link to Part 2. Look for a link to the final article in January.
As promised in our last blog post, below is the video from Julia and Rick Llewellyn's 2004 Spitsbergen trip with us. The video offers an excellent depiction of what you will see and do on most Spitsbergen cruises. And, if you look closely, you'll see our very own Dennis Mense in the ship's bridge, as well as shots of longtime TravelWild Expeditions leaders Gary Alt and Rinie van Meurs.
Thanks again to the Llewellyns for sharing this video with us!
Julia and Rick Llewellyn have traveled on a couple of our cruises that included both TravelWild clients and clients from our sister company, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris. In 2006, they joined our Emperor Penguins of Snow Hill Island cruise aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov and they produced an excellent video of the adventure. We are pleased that the Llewellyns have shared this video with us. We’ll post video from their 2004 Spitsbergen trip in a separate post soon. Meanwhile, the video below will you give a very good idea of what our emperor penguin cruises are like. Thanks Julia and Rick!
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inhabits loose pack ice and appears to specialize in feeding on pinnipeds. Type C is also a gray, black, and white form with a dorsal cape, but it has a narrow, slanted eye patch; it lives in dense pack ice and apparently eats mainly fish. Based on consistent differences in morphology and ecology, and a lack of evidence for interbreeding among these at least partially sympatric forms, it was suggested that types B, C, or both may represent new species of killer whales. (Pitman and Ensor 2003.)
advantages of Porro binocs are that they allow in a substantial amount of light—the more light, the easier it is to see your subject—and, compared to roof prism binocs, they offer a wider angle of view and can be focused faster and closer to your subject.
due to the fact that most of their focusing mechanism is internal and therefore better protected from the elements.
