Belugas – the first encounter!

1. September 2017 The first three days in search of encounters with the Belugas are over. It is not easy to capture those cute and curious animals on the sensor of the camera! The reason for this are the right settings for the camera. The light and visual conditions are extreme! And the snowy white body of the Belugas adds the rest. Suddenly they come out of the gloomy green and stand like cute white angels in front of us, bending their heads from right to left! What makes it worse is that there is a mixture of sweet and salt water … which in certain situations leads to a flurry picture. The glassport of the underwater housing has to be freed constantly from air bubbles … otherwise you end up with an image of an extreme sharp bubble – backgrounded by blurred Belugas 😉 Belugas are true bubble masters! On the first day we had an encounter with a group of about 20 curious animals, who became more and more interested and closer from minute to minute. We observed some behaviors that make a meeting with Belugas so unique. The concert of different voices and noises is unbelievable. And its loud! Squeaking, whistles or even a scream of enthusiasm – it is simply awesome! For a good reason they are called the canarie birds of the ocean! But Belugas also like to be entertained! Singing or miserably imitated „Belugascreams“ seems to be interesting and enetrtaining to them. They obviously react to it and give back reactions of curiosity! This is simply cute and touching when they come so open minded and pure to us humans! Suddenly they come out of the gloomy green and stand like cute white angels in front of us, bending their heads from right to left! They change their facial expressions … what other whale species can not. Belugas have facial muscles! And they can also move their necks – together with the narwhale they are the only whale species which is able to do this! Just these peculiarities make an encounter with Belugas so special. The next day we saw the Belugas swim swiftly up the River Churchill River. Only a few animals remained in the estuary and further out in the Hudson Bay. For the cause we heared several theories: the upcoming thunderstorms or hunting Orcas in the Hudson Bay. A further guess were Inuits, who have hunted on Belugas … We are looking forward to the next days! We saw a lot of new born whales. For some reason the following day they swam up the river to feel safe!