While in the middle of getting the fieldwork equipment together for the Cape Verde trip, I got a call from Eugene McKeown at 9pm, telling me of the 5am start in search of two humpbacks that birders had spotted off Galley Head. All the gear was at hand so I went for it.... and it piad off. By 10:30 we had two biopsies; the first time IWDG has ever managed two humpback samples in the one day. One of the whales was HBIRL18 which had eluded us back in January off Co. Wexford. The second animal was a newbie (HBIRL20) which was hesitant to show it's fluke at first, but later on it refused to put it away - displaying 3 bouts of strong lob-tailing.
The whales were certainly skim and lunge-feeding on plankton which were teeming on a strong tidal front off Toe Head, associated with basking sharks at one point. Strangely enough, the only time I have witnessed this feeding behaviour in humpback whales in Irish waters was exactly at this location when "Dutchy" was spotted there in September 2007.
This is the first sighting of humpbacks in Irish waters for the month of April. These appeared to be sub-adults, and considering the time of year, this sighting gives further evidence that young and reproductively 'resting; humpbacks may stay at high latitudes to feed rather than go all the way to the breeding grounds to face harassment by the big bulls!
So the flotation suit has been put away in favour of shorts and sandals. Only one and a half more sleeps before we leave for Boa Vista... fingers crossed that all will go smoothly... airports & crossbow makes me nervous.
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