Beautiful whale song April 2009 Bermuda 1st part

This is the first part of a recording I made late April on Challenger Banks, fifteen miles offshore Bermuda. I believe this is one of the most beautiful recordings I have of a humpback whale, the sounds are very clear. We heard this whale through the hull of a 35-foot trawler with the engine idling, gear in neutral. The recording is with the engine off, the hydrophone about 30 feet down in 170 feet of water. We hear the humpbacks singing often in this exact location, especially at night when the singing seems to be non-stop. During the day the singing is sporadic but always there are whales milling around the singer. This to me does not seem like the breeding behaviour of humpback singing in the Caribbean or Hawaii and I wonder, despite the disbelief of marine scientists, whether this whale song attracts other whales to the singer. I have often witnessed humpbacks aggregating on the Challenger Bank with as many as 14 whales in close formation milling around for some hours. The behaviour is not the aggressive behaviour seen in the breeding grounds. I have also witnessed large groups of humpbacks move on a steady course and speed (5 knots) in a north east direction and again, this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but I wonder if the whales have aggregated into large protective groups to complete the migration up north and to run the gauntlet of orcas somewhere between here and their feeding grounds. Although orca attacks have rarely been witnessed on humpbacks in the North Atlantic, about a third of this population of humpbacks have orca scars on their flukes, dorsals and pectoral fins.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• humpback
• whale
• song
• singing
• cetacean
• ocean
• oceanography
• aquatic
• wildlife
• japanese
• whaling

[wakod2002]

you should set the recording to mono to make it come out both Left and Right speakers- currently its only coming out of the right.

[Loverboy19691]

sounds like me breaking wind in the bath!

[KORNATOPOLA]

Thank you !

[fraserandboys]

I really enjoyed listening. Thank-you for posting.

[JesuscantergallopTB]

Thank you for sharing! Love whales!<3

[draco3113]

i was going to put a humpback song as my ringtone on my phone but i think i might get a different reaction from people hahaha

[Kuschelwuschel125]

hey i have a question are you working with whales?which profession have you?

=)

[TessaMunHanLee]

I feel sleepy -falls asleep- x

[Biol707]

nádhera !!

[Kipschijf]

Finally the perfect whale song! I adore this <3

[101booie101]

How could anyone not like this!!! Its adorable!!!