East Coast Whales

 Rounding out our little Whale Week here, we quickly pop back to the Saint Lawrence for a few quick pictures of the whales we saw on the East Coast this summer. Starting off with biggest of the lot, Fin Whales are the second largest animals in the world (just shy of the Blue Whale which we were too early to see). They aren't as flashy as orcas or as acrobatic as humpbacks, but they are enormous and breathtaking to see in real life. The little picture below really doesn't do them justice.

 Measuring in at a smaller 7m compared to the 20m of the Fin, the Minke Whale is another baleen whale common to the Saint Lawrence. They were often found in company of the Fins, and on our first morning out there was a sizeable mixed pod of both species feeding on plankton and small fish. Though they look similar in photos without context for scale, the Minke tends to hunch its back up more as seen below, compared to the submarine-style breaths of the fin.

 The most troublesome and elusive of the Tadoussac whales was certainly the Beluga. While we did see them on both of our outings, they were very shy and hard to predict. Though Kathryn got a few shakey video clips of them, I was totally unable to get anything useable. We've have constant access to them at the aquarium anyways, so of the three it was most acceptable to miss out on them, but it would have been nice to have a closer encouter given some stories I have heard of them in the region.

All in all, the whales of the east were just not as showy as the displays we had on the West Coast and we were certainly spoiled more by the kindness of our friends in Telegraph Cove than the more brusque guides we had in the Tadoussac area.