25°F
It's a little more than two weeks since my last post and I haven't taken any photos until last night. When I was walking out of the lab building yesterday evening after finishing my science duties I happened to glance out at the sea and saw numerous spouts of water, which were neatly back lit because of the time of day (after 10pm). It was like seeing geysers in the sea. The whale activity seemed pretty high to me as there was always a whale spouting somewhere out in the water during the ten minutes I was watching. These were Antarctic minke whales or southern minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis), which I looked up to make sure I had the correct spelling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_minke_whale). I think they like the freshly exposed water in front of McMurdo for a new feeding area that allows for breathing too.
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| The first photo I took last night from right outside of Crary lab. Note how the spout of water is back lit! |
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| Second photo I took. There turned out to be several pods of whales all over the open water last night |
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| Several whales far across the open water near the other edge of the sea ice |
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| The same pod of whales near the opposite edge of the sea ice |
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| A whale exposed and spouting near the closer edge of the sea ice and remnant spouting on the far side of the open water |
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| Mid range and far spouting |
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| A single whale spouting on the far side of the open water. I included this photo to show where I was shooting from in McMurdo |
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