Whales

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	Thar she blows
	Humpback whales each have unique flukes or tails. Therefore scientists keep a photographic log of flukes to track individuals.
	Alaska's southeast inner passage is indeed an amazing place to whalewatch. This is where the whales come to feed in the summer after winter fasting for four to five months in Maui, Baja Mexico, or Japan.


	With exception of mom and calf, whales are usually pretty independent. However, I was fortunate to witness "bubble net feeding" which is a cooperative feeding method originally recorded by a Juneau school teacher in the early '70s. The whales dive releasing bubbles forming a cylindrical "net" of bubbles that entraps small fish like herring.
	Then they swim to the surface with their balleened mouths open, engulfing the fish that were ensnared in their net.