Humpback Whale Pec Slapping and Breaching

A friendly humpback whale breaching, whale slapping its pectoral fins, lying on its back, 'fluke up' diving and then breaching again, in Barkley Sound, off of Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada, May 21, 2011. This was a pelagic birding daytrip, and we saw plenty of seabirds, including flocks of red phalaropes, sooty shearwaters, fulmars, an albatross, a tufted puffin and even a pair of very rare red knots on Wizard Island in the Broken Group. But for my money this whale was the star of the day. So, while others in our party clicked away on their expensive cameras with their huge telephoto lenses, I decided instead to film this solitary marine mammal with my little Sony Cyber-shot.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• humpback
• whales
• pec
• slapping
• breaching