Video: Drone Captures Amazing Humpback Whale Feeding Event on Camera

Video: Drone Captures Amazing Humpback Whale Feeding Event on Camera � Focusing on Wildlife

Apart from their massive size, humpback whales are most known for their extensive, complex “songs” that male humpbacks use for communication. But, humpback whales also have some fascinating feeding behaviors that are also worthy of attention—particularly bubble-netting. This form of feeding behavior occurs when groups of about four to twenty humpback whales concentrate their prey—like herring or krill—in large groups by producing bubbles and vocalizations before lunging at them, according to the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Auke Bay Laboratories.

In recent footage captured off Alaska, a drone caught this incredible behavior on film as humpback whales race along the water’s surface in search of their prey. Then, around 50 seconds into the video, members of a pod of these whales lunge from the water’s surface and trap their tasty meal. Other footage recently captured off Norway filmed similar behavior, though in a much closer view.

Humpback whales feeding in Alaska. (Photo: AkXpro / Vimeo)

Apart from this fascinating feeding behavior, a recent study also found out that humpback whales work together when feeding at night in dark, deeper water. The study, published in Scientific Reports, found that the whales make “tick-tock”-like noises—which may be used as a signal to notify nearby whales that food is in the area, or to help draw one of their prey, sand lance, up from the ocean floor.

Humpback whales can grow up to a staggering 60 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons, according to National Geographic. They are distributed throughout the world’s oceans from subpolar to tropical waters, and make vast migrations each year to breed. Humpback whales are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, though two populations are under review for delisting. Commercial whaling activity severely decimated populations, but humpback whales are said to be recovering today. Current threats include vessel strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, habitat degradation, and more.

Take a look below for a great view of this feeding behavior:

Humpback Whales Bubble Feeding Drone Views from AkXpro on Vimeo.

I thought these comments were also interesting, so we keep the audio in perspective:

James M. Williams Jr  1 day ago

A nice film, but the audio dub really could have been much better. It's very apparent that the audio used in the film is not original. The sound of waves lapping on a beach, when the whales are a considerable distance from shore doesn't make sense. Also, the sound was looped, so the seagull audio is repetitive, and the sound of the whales singing is also, repetitive, with the same whale sound playing over and over. 

With the crew possibly in a boat controlling the remote control drone, a better approach for audio I think, would be to take either a camera with a good mic, or an audio recording system, say like a "Zoom, H4, or something similar, and do several minutes of just audio recordings of that same location. Yes, there are other boats nearby, but that wouldn't matter too much. The most preferable option, is to do a stereo recordings with shotgun mics pointed in the direction of the whales from a boat at a safe distance, call for silence on the set, and record the audio.

 

James M. Williams Jr  1 day ago

It's easy to capture and record good audio separately from the film of the same footage of the whales feeding. It's also much easier to dub the audio in during post, and to manipulate the audio track so that it closely fits the activity of the footage. No one would be the wiser if done correctly. It's only a matter of synchronizing a few of the whales surfacing to breath . The gulls are of no consequence and recordings of them would fit regardless. The water sounds of the whales surfacing to feed would also be captured and easily be dubbed in to fit the footage... 

Whales, especially Humpback Whales do not sing while feeding. The sound of their singing would drive the schools of herring, or fish away, and even the krill they feed on would flee, so they do not sing at all when they are feeding. They do employ the "Bubble-net Feeding" though.

Very nice footage, beautiful overhead shots with the drone though. Thanks for sharing.