I can’t imagine I will ever have a better whale watching experience than the one I had in Juneau, Alaska, in July. Not only did we get to see some Orcas, but we also came across an entertaining pod of Humpback Whales.
We got to see them swim, dive, expel air from their blowholes and show off their tails. But that wasn’t the most interesting behavior we encountered. Many of the Humpbacks we saw were doing bubble-net feeding, where the whales work together as a group to feed.
Here’s how the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation describes the strategy: “To bubble-net feed, whales dive deep below schools of fish and use bubbles blown from their blowholes to stun and trap fish closer to the surface. One whale generally leads the effort followed by the rest of the group.”
Once the leading whale gives the signal, the other Humpbacks then race to the surface through the center of the bubble net — jaws wide open — to scoop up the trapped fish. We saw our group of humpbacks doing bubble-net feeding probably a dozen times during our excursion, and it was absolutely amazing to watch.
Why were they feeding so much? The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says on its website, “Humpbacks can eat up to 1.5 tons of food per day using the baleen in its mouth as a sieve. Baleen are the fringed plates which hang down from either side of the upper jaw. Humpbacks have 270 to 400 baleen plates, each about 30-inches long. As they feed, the pleated grooves in their throat expand to allow them to take in large volumes of water and food. As the mouth closes, water is forced through the baleen plates trapping food.” (See graphic below)
In some of my pictures below when the whales are bubble-net feeding, you can see their baleen and their tongues when their mouths are wide open.
As I have said previously, it was an amazing experience. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a little more sun. It was very overcast the day we were there, but at least it wasn’t raining. By the way, our whale watching tour was with Gastineau Guiding, with our guide Lucas and boat Capt. Joe, and I highly recommend them if you want to go whale watching in Juneau.
