I was recently in Sitka to photograph the annual spectacle that is Humpback whales bubble-net feeding on herring.
To say it was impressive would be a huge understatement. It was astounding. What I didn’t expect was hearing the sounds the whales made.
Our captain was Gary Downie of Captain Gary's Sitka Adventures. Gary put his hydrophone in the water to listen in on what the whales were saying under water. You can gauge when they might rise to feed by their vocalizations. That was eerie and fascinating. But what was really impressive were the sounds made above water. There were the usual blasts from blow holes, but in addition there were loud, long and deep sounds. Sometimes a whale would sound like a freight train.
Seeing large groups of whales rising out of the water and making the sounds they make rivals seeing the auroras for the most amazing thing I’ve witnessed in nature.

The whales are bubble-net feeding because of the abundance of herring. The herring also attract others, like eagles and fisherman. On our first morning, a fishing boat was on the water and checking the herring roe. Apparently it’s a delicacy in Japan. The bald eagles were very interested in all of this and they, along with some gulls, were diving in to steal herring. It was a great chance to practice birds-in-flight photography.

There are a few things different about photographing in March instead of August.

For one, and maybe most importantly, August is a lot warmer. Our mornings in March started out at about 35 degrees and didn’t get much warmer. Combine that with even a slight breeze and your fingers are going to let you know they’re not happy. So good liner gloves and handwarmers are nearly a must.

Another difference is the pace of the photography. In August, we generally get little breaks here and there while the whales are diving or while we’re moving towards some spouts we’ve just seen or while were traveling to a small island to see seals and birds. During bubble-net feeding there are no breaks. The whales come up in a group to feed and then they mosey around a bit, making short dives and coming up to breath. It’s a great chance to photograph tails and dorsal fins and other behavior. We even saw a few breaches. Though once again, I wasn’t ready when a whale breached rather close to us.

After they’ve done a bit of diving and wandering, they all go below. And you really have no idea of where they’re going to rise again in an explosion of water and whales. So you scan the water and listen to the hydrophone. The louder the sounds coming from the hydrophone, the closer the whales will be. And Captain Gary always had a pretty good general idea of where they might come up.
Then the whales rise and we frantically shoot, just to start the whole process over.

Always being "on" can drain you. Your muscles get sore from keeping your balance and you can't let your mind wander too far. But it's worth it!

I compare photographing whales in August and March to football and soccer (or hockey).

When watching football, there’s around 30-40 seconds between plays. Plus commercial breaks. There’s plenty of time to visit the refrigerator or play solitaire on your tablet.
When watching soccer or hockey, you really can’t take your eyes off the action or you’re likely to miss something. And photographing Whales in Sitka in March is like watching hockey.

And the final main difference between March and August is the variety of subjects to photograph. In March we mainly saw whales and other boats with photographers. We saw some fishing boats and the eagles. Occasionally we’d spot a sea lion or otter.
In August, we’ll see and photograph rafts of otters. We’ll see and photograph puffins and Common murres and more eagles. We’ll see groups of seals. We may even see bears along the shore. And of course, fishing boats.

And in August, the salmon are running and we can photograph them in the river. There is also more access to trails and Harbor Mountain. So generally, there’s more to do in August than March. But those few hours on the boat with the whales is pretty action packed.

Be sure to drop me a line if you ever want to join me on one of my tours!

And below is a video from the tour. The whale noises in the background are from the hydrophone.