To be born into the world a baitfish would be an especially cruel fate. Baitfish such as herring, sand lance, and surf smelt form the base of the food chain, performing a critical, albeit brief function in the Salish Sea ecosystem.
Schools of these forage fish were being discovered and plundered all across the shallow banks south of San Juan Island today. Gulls attacked the schools from above while rhinoceros auklets picked them off from below, returning from their dives with a half dozen silvery tails draped between their beaks. Perhaps the “grass is greener on the other side” concept also applies in the bird world; we observed repeated mass movements of birds over a wide area frantically flapping to converge on the next best baitball.
Marine mammals also rushed to the table. Several minke whales darted around our boat, shifting direction suddenly and surfacing irregularly. This torpedo-shaped baleen whale stealthily lunges for fish among the flocks of birds, often sending the feathered ones exploding into the air. The balance of the baitball is then strained out of the whale’s bristly baleen.
On our return trip, Captain Craig received word of a lone humpback whale just outside of Friday Harbor (our own backdoor!). The pattern on the underside of the animal’s fluke revealed it to be the same individual that has been sighted repeatedly in the area for the past several weeks. The light was perfect for observing this behemoth and its impressive blows. When we departed the scene, the humpback was heading in the direction of the minke whales and the baitfish bonanza that awaited it.
Andrew
Naturalist, M/V "Sea Lion"
San Juan Safaris