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Humpback whales organize in loose, temporary pods of ten or more individuals and are the only species of whale that cooperatively 'buddle net' feeds. They feed by swimming with their mouth open. Because they are toothless and the baleen in their mouth acts as a filter while they feed, the also feed by racing forward and gulping in water and fish. The baleen is a comb-like structure that hangs from the humpback whale's upper jaw and its inside is edged with hairy plates to filter their 'food'. A humpback's diet normally consists of krill, mackerel, sardines, anchovies and plankton and they hunt for food only in cold waters which is probably why they migrate to Alaskan waters.
Currently, Humpback whale populations are estimated to be around 25,000 whales world wide.
. | Humpback Whales
Contributor:
AlaskaPhotography.com
July 1998 Send this Page to a Friend 
Click Here to Send a Postcard This photo was taken from a 22 ft. Osprey on a "halibut" venture out of Homer Alaska. We headed across Kachemak Bay toward Seldovia and kept hearing "pppttt" in the distance. After at least a half hour of listening and fishing for halibut we decided it just had to be whales and headed even further into the bay. Not far from the Baron Islands we came across these graceful humpback whales feeding in pods. We shot at least 4 rolls of film with whales surfacing literally 10 feet from the boat! It was quite exciting as most of the whales were definitely 'longer' than our boat! There were at least 4 pods of 6-10 humpback whales each swimming toward each other then heading under just feet from each other. It was a sight to behold! I hope you enjoy the select photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.
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