Whale Stories
Sleeping Giants
"On calm days whales often appear to be sleeping. They become so unresponsive and motionless that they no longer opened and closed their nostrils cleanly. Their breathing becomes snoring!"
"We were on an excursion to record whale songs on one particular calm day. We were very close, in the middle of a group of whales. We could hear the sounds of wavelets breaking against their bodies and sometimes even feel their breath. We got an ordinary microphone and held it to within a few inches of a whale's nostrils. There were three whales lying asleep very close together. We managed to come in close enough to record and then withdraw without them waking up. It was a powerful experienceto be so close to such deep and gargantuan sleep."
Herd Noises
"Every spring, humpback whales mysteriously appear and pass by Bermuda, as if from nowhere. During the three or four months that the parade goes by the ocean is seldom silent, always filled with their songs."
"They have another vocabulary, however, which includes sounds that we never hear in songs. These are social sounds, called herd noises -made in little bursts and followed by long silences. They are often frantic and close together as though there was some momentary squabble in their otherwise serene and gliding lives."
Drifting Off
"When we first began studying humpback whales we didn't realize that they sing all through the night. The first time we heard anight chorus wasby accident. We had been drifting far off shore all afternoon and - the weather being fair - we decided to stay outovernight. We were out of sight of land over Argus Bank, a shallow plateau that rises from deep water about thirty miles fromBermuda. It is a place where humpbacks gather."
"Whenever they sing in deep water, suspended far above the ocean abyss, the echoes are distinct and one gets the sense of vast, vaulted spaces as if the ocean were a great cathedral. Now, however, we could tell that they were up on the bank. There wereno echoes and their songs sounded flat."
" As darkness fell, the wind died down and we were carried only by the slow ocean currents. We passed the night immersed in thesound of whales. It was a strange and lovely sound as if of sleepers singing. A mingled, convoluted drone of voices. It was asif they sang as they drifted off from consciousness right through to sleep."
Sea Running
"The spring winds around Bermuda often blow for long, unrelenting periods. At such times the seas build and build until everything is rolling and reeling and toppling. All you can do is hang on and wish it would end. Sometimes the wind dips sharply, and there is no press of air on the sails to hold the boat steady, so it pirouettes drunkenly, bowing and curtsying. It's very uncomfortable aboard. The old sailors call this a 'left over sea running'."
"We were out gathering sound recordings of humpback whales and had been through a rough night. By morning we were very tired and about ready to return when the wind subsided. I put the hydrophone down and started listening. The contrast was amazing. Beneath the wildly gyrating surface were the sweetest, most serene and lovely sounds one might ever hear. Clearly the whale didn't care at all about what was happening up above on the ocean surface. It had its own disposition - its own song."
"We were out gathering sound recordings of humpback whales and had been through a rough night. By morning we were very tired and about ready to return when the wind subsided. I put the hydrophone down and started listening. The contrast was amazing. Beneath the wildly gyrating surface were the sweetest, most serene and lovely sounds one might ever hear. Clearly the whale didn't care at all about what was happening up above on the ocean surface. It had its own disposition - its own song."
Charging
A personal story
"Sometimes humpback whales form small, tight groups like packs of dogs. They move fast at the surface, breathing nearly in synchrony (at the same time), with much cavorting and social interaction."
"Some of the groups are males in competition for females, but the composition of others is less clear. When they encounter a boat they often stop and approach cautiously, then silently withdraw, milling about for several minutes."
"At other times they seem not to know what to do, and they keep close together, pressing against one another and maneuvering so as to constantly touch each other's bodies. On a few occasions these groups have become bold and ended the encounter by making a mock charge at the boat."
"In one incident the whales grouped about a hundred yards away trumpeting and grunting in turn. They then turned and plowed towards us, howling loudly and coming so fast and resolutely that we were convinced we were going to be rammed. Only at the last possible moment did they change direction and dive deftly under the boat, passing beneath us in complete silence, but so close to the hydrophone (underwater microphone) that we could hear the gurgling water from their wakes."
