A bowhead whale in the eastern North Pacific

Abstract

Bowhead whales occur in the Arctic year-round. Their movements are largely correlated with seasonal expansions and reductions of sea ice, but a few recent extralimital sightings have occurred in the eastern and western North Atlantic and one was also documented in the western North Pacific over 50 years ago. Here we present details of a juvenile bowhead whale that was photographed and filmed from above and below the water while it was skim-feeding in Caamaño Sound, BC, Canada on May 31, 2016. This sighting occurred over 2000 km southeast from the nearest known range for this species in the Bering Sea at a time that most bowhead whales in that region would have been migrating northeast. This sighting represents the first and only documentation of a bowhead whale in the eastern North Pacific to date.