Readers’ wildlife photos (and videos)

I have at most four installments of RWP left. If you have good wildlife photos and wish this feature to continue, please send them in. Thanks!

Today we have the penultimate installment of Antarctica photos by Robert Lang. Today: whales!  The captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Antarctica Part 6: Whales

During our two weeks on the boat (and sometimes when kayaking), we regularly saw humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), usually from a distance, like this one:

Most times, we were first alerted to their presence by the sound of a blow:

Typically we’d see one of three things: the hump, the blow, or the dive, usually ending with the tail out of the water. With this one, you can see a flock of Gentoo penguins in the background; they’re all feeding on the same school of krill:

The patterns on the tail are highly variable and distinct enough to recognize individuals. Here’s a group of tail shots taken during the course of the trip:

One night, we were fortunate enough for the whales to come quite close to the boat, and we spent about half an hour watching them in the pink sunset glow (it was about 11 pm). The whales were lunge-feeding; not quite bubble-netting where they come straight up underneath a school, but they were still herding their prey, then coming in together from the side. You can see the baleen in some of their open mouths here:

And here’s a short movie of this occasion, showing some of their behavior (with that incredible light as background):

The highlight, whale-wise, of the trip was a visit from a pod of orcas (Orcinus orca). These were Type B2 orcas, which typically hunt penguins, seals, and fish. We watched the pod from a distance for a while; then they turned toward us and came right up to the boat, where they stopped and (for want of a better word) played around a bit. Here’s two coming up to the boat; the one on the left is swimming inverted—I think it wants a belly rub:

Some of them turned vertically in the water, stuck their tails up in the air, and waggled them back and forth, like this one:

And here’s one as it started swimming away. The Type B orcas have a yellowish tinge, which comes from diatoms that attach to their skin (and will eventually be shed):

One of our group, Jack, had a GoPro camera going during the orca visitation, and with his permission, I’ve posted his full movie here (you’ll see Jack’s gleeful face at the very end of the movie). It starts slow, but gets pretty amazing:

Next: The tiny stuff.