The Struggle

Yesterday a juvenile Humpback Whale beached itself at the famous Main Beach in East Hampton Village. It is quite rare for a live whale to come ashore on Long Island and as such it has created quite the draw. The marine mammal rescue people (Riverhead Foundation) have determined it is likely too sick to survive, and it is not worth the risk to volunteers to push the whale back into the ocean - they are currently (after 2 days) trying to determine how to properly euthanize the whale. It is a sad sight, but it's also nature. Whales have been beaching themselves when sick for tens of thousands (much more I presume) of years and many believe since it's here we should try to push it back and save it.

What upsets me about the situation is not that it can't be "saved" (again, it's sick and it's nature, sad, but true). But that once it has perished, it will be dragged ashore and buried (after a necropsy). It would be preferable to me if it could be dragged out to sea for the fish and birds to consume - but there are "liability" issues with something like that.

The Whale moved its tail up and opened its mouth twice in a minute, each lasting a few brief seconds and I was able to capture both instances (I missed a few shots because I was zoomed in too close) and it was unbelievable to see this giant beast struggle so.

I took several hundred shots and have toyed with making some B&W and will post a variety of photos in the fauna gallery based on the comments and critiques I receive. I also will post other shots that won't make it to NPN on my blog in the future.

Nikon D300s 18-200mm VR @ 170 HH from rock jetty.
f/13
1/800s
ISO 500

Cropped to approximately 65%, Straightened horizon, sharpened whale, noise reduction on sky, increased saturation on blacks.

I must give an assist to Sandy Richards who sold me this lens and got it to me on time! Without this lens, I would have been hamstrung with my 300 or my 105 macro. This was my first time trying the lens out and the results were fantastic!