Chatham Strait & Chichagof Island
A Foggy Day in London Town could not have compared with our mid-morning venture into Chatham Strait. Although a bright sunrise and blue lenses in the sky greeted us early, moist Pacific air soon descended to sea level and condensed into a soft gray blanket, with “zero visibility”. The ethereal images and sounds of humpback whales emerging out of the mist were a pleasant beginning. The fog soon cleared and we were treated to the unbelievable experience of bubblenet feeding, in this case by a single whale. The glassy sea was broken by a rising cylinder of bubbles emitted by the submerged whale as it ascended in a clockwise spiral. Then suddenly the centre of the circle erupted as the whale lunged up sideways, mouth agape, to engulf hapless krill or small herring panicked and compacted by the rising jail-cell of bubbles. This manipulative feeding, developed to perfection by some of the humpbacks here in Southeast Alaska, has to be among the most innovative and amazing forms of behaviour in the animal kingdom.
The ultimate method of bubblenetting, now referred to as social foraging or cooperative feeding, occurred later in the morning. We watched enthralled as a group of seven adult humpbacks repeatedly performed this astonishing choreography, presumably with each member of the group knowing exactly what its role was – scout, bubble-blower, caller, herder, etc – and in which order it should rise to the surface, open its cavernous mouth and engulf a massive volume of water and the herring contained therein. All seven of these huge mammals would break the surface of the bubblenet at the same time. Few fish would escape, and those that did were likely scooped up by screaming gulls descending from above. Such organization is not known to occur among other cetaceans, and surely it ranks among the most intricate and bizarre of any animal behaviours. We were proud to be among the few people in the world who may ever see this phenomenon.
Our afternoon was spent in quiet Zodiacs as we charted the shoreline of Chichagof Island and a small, historic bay on its east side. Some hiked the beaches and walked into a small beaver pond, searching for evidence of early native use or a fish processing plant and saltery, all of which were part of the history of the original Tlingit peoples and the first white settlers. Salmon were assembling at the base of a white waterfall draining a hidden lake. We floated patiently, sun now glowing brightly in our faces. Soon a young brown (grizzly) bear sauntered out of the forest to the base of the falls, fruitlessly trying to grasp a slippery salmon in the deep, high-tide water. His efforts were soon interrupted as a massive bear appeared at the top of the falls. The youngster looked up and wasted no time in scrambling back up the bank and into the dense forest. Dominance is critical among the wild animals of the world. Perhaps this youngster will continue to shy away for now. And perhaps some day he will become the king at the falls.
A Foggy Day in London Town could not have compared with our mid-morning venture into Chatham Strait. Although a bright sunrise and blue lenses in the sky greeted us early, moist Pacific air soon descended to sea level and condensed into a soft gray blanket, with “zero visibility”. The ethereal images and sounds of humpback whales emerging out of the mist were a pleasant beginning. The fog soon cleared and we were treated to the unbelievable experience of bubblenet feeding, in this case by a single whale. The glassy sea was broken by a rising cylinder of bubbles emitted by the submerged whale as it ascended in a clockwise spiral. Then suddenly the centre of the circle erupted as the whale lunged up sideways, mouth agape, to engulf hapless krill or small herring panicked and compacted by the rising jail-cell of bubbles. This manipulative feeding, developed to perfection by some of the humpbacks here in Southeast Alaska, has to be among the most innovative and amazing forms of behaviour in the animal kingdom.
The ultimate method of bubblenetting, now referred to as social foraging or cooperative feeding, occurred later in the morning. We watched enthralled as a group of seven adult humpbacks repeatedly performed this astonishing choreography, presumably with each member of the group knowing exactly what its role was – scout, bubble-blower, caller, herder, etc – and in which order it should rise to the surface, open its cavernous mouth and engulf a massive volume of water and the herring contained therein. All seven of these huge mammals would break the surface of the bubblenet at the same time. Few fish would escape, and those that did were likely scooped up by screaming gulls descending from above. Such organization is not known to occur among other cetaceans, and surely it ranks among the most intricate and bizarre of any animal behaviours. We were proud to be among the few people in the world who may ever see this phenomenon.
Our afternoon was spent in quiet Zodiacs as we charted the shoreline of Chichagof Island and a small, historic bay on its east side. Some hiked the beaches and walked into a small beaver pond, searching for evidence of early native use or a fish processing plant and saltery, all of which were part of the history of the original Tlingit peoples and the first white settlers. Salmon were assembling at the base of a white waterfall draining a hidden lake. We floated patiently, sun now glowing brightly in our faces. Soon a young brown (grizzly) bear sauntered out of the forest to the base of the falls, fruitlessly trying to grasp a slippery salmon in the deep, high-tide water. His efforts were soon interrupted as a massive bear appeared at the top of the falls. The youngster looked up and wasted no time in scrambling back up the bank and into the dense forest. Dominance is critical among the wild animals of the world. Perhaps this youngster will continue to shy away for now. And perhaps some day he will become the king at the falls.
