Everybody wants to visit New York: millions of people, sure, but also gorgeous, giant humpback whales. They seem to visit almost every year at this point and yet still, it always makes us go "wow." Live whales! In the city!
This latest spotting of a humpback comes to us via Flickr user Knightmare6 who saw the giant off of Rockaway Beach, Queens. According to experts, there is not too much to worry about with such a big mammal just off our shores—Kim Durham of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation tells us that humpback whales are well documented visitors to our area. How close they come to our shores, however, is "dependent on where the food is." Apparently the food (krill, in case you were curious!) is close to the city this year, because they've "been getting sightings all throughout the summer, right out the harbor."
To have the whales so close to the city is, according to Durham, "kind of neat," but it can also be worrisome for someone in her line of work, since it is like "having a really cool animal play by a really big highway." Luckily this year there have been no documented vessel strikes against humpback whales in the area!
