The Zeiger Family Homestead Blog

For the last couple of days, we’ve suspected that the herring have arrived, but because of the choppy conditions, we haven’t been able to confirm this by looking in the water and seeing the shoals. Still, it seemed fairly obvious because of the increased activity among the herring eaters that have been gathering in recent weeks. Sunday afternoon, three humpback whales cruised along the edge of our beach, literally shoulder-to-shoulder.

Yesterday, I heard a whale approaching our bight, and went down to the beach to watch. The water had become quite calm, so I knew it would surface shortly when I saw the surface erupt in thousands of herring trying to swim past it into the sky. The whale’s nose burst into the air in the middle of the fish. Seconds later, a second whale did the same—two whales lunge-fed within 50 feet from where I stood. They worked their way up the beach to the neighbor’s land, then circled around and came back by. On their return, I managed to get a couple of photos.

One of the two whales lunge feeding off our beach yesterday (Photo: Mark Zeiger).

Pretty dramatic proof that the herring have arrived. Now what? Continue reading →