The Sitka Conservation Society along with Allen Marine sponsored an evening cruise on Sitka Sound. We had a discussion of Salmon and got to watch the dramatic change in weather as fine weather moved in from the sea, piling up clouds on the peaks. On this trip we had sea lions, sea otters and, of course ,whales. The setting sun was just right to catch a “whale bow” in the spout. The whale close to the shore has the naturalists confused. It has the fins and coloring of a Humpback but the flukes and behavior of a gray whale. It feeds near shore and close to the surface. The Allen Marine people have been watching it all summer and joke that it is a hybrid, the first of a new breed. But since Humpbacks breed in Hawaii and Grays breed in the Gulf of California this is kind of unlikely. Perhaps just a young humpback that is confused in its behavior.
