Whales, Birds, Fish and Battle Harbour

1930 Sunday, August 6, 2023

I wanted to touch on a few different topics today.

First, I will jump back to our sail here to Battle Harbour yesterday. We had not been seeing many whales lately; I had expected more of them. Yesterday we sighted 4 or five minke whales, the smallest of thebbaleen whales that feed on small fish, such as capelin. The photo above is of one of yesterday's minke whales.

Shortly after the minkes we sighted a pod of five orbsix long finned pilot whales. These are medium sized toothed whales, a little smaller than orca but larger than dolphins. The photo below is of the dorsal fin of one of the pilot whales, you can see the light, white saddle coloration on either side ofnthe dorsal fin. Both the minke and the pilot whales appeared to be feeding.

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Upon arriving in Battle Harbour we learned that the cod have only just arrived or "struck" here this week. It also seems that they have not seen many capelin until now. So, perhaps we have not seen many whales yet because their food sources have been late in arriving this year. The pack ice was slow to recede this year, maybe leading to the whales moving north not much faster than Tazzarin. I am hopeful we may see more whales as we now continue south.

Yesterday, where we saw the whales, and adjacent to a shoal named Offer Bank, a small, local boat with one fisherman was dropping down a handling. No sooner than he dropped it and jagged twice, he hauled it back with a good sized fish. We watched him do it seven or eight times. Every time, in seconds he hauled in another fish, time after time, no pause. Clearly, fish are now here in good numbers.The fisherman is pictured below.

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I also enjoy the bird life. I strive to get decent photos of all the different species of the area. Yesterday I got a nice shot of a northern fulmar, below. At first glance they look like a gull, but, are not related. The fulmar is closer to being a petrel. Unlike a gull, it has straighter wings, is a more accomplished, open ocean flyer. It has a tubular nose on the Bill. They are also much longer lived, close to 40 years. You only find them up north, not back home.

read on for a bit more on Battle Harbour...

We had more time to explore Battle Harbour today. it is enchanting, beautiful, historic and memorable. We hiked the entire island, past homes with laundry out on the line to dry, past the church and the old graveyard beyond. Past blue boat sheds with crab pots and old boats, out to headland and over green, rocky Barrens with small ponds of clear water. This evening an arctic fox wandered by, keeping an eye on us and the looming evening. Photos of these things, and the fox are below.

Bill