Photo: Cape Cod Times/Steve Heaslip

I recall many years ago how excited the guide was on a whale watching trip out of Provincetown when we sighted a mother right whale and her calf not long after leaving the dock. I can only imagine how researchers are reacting to the arrival of an unprecidented number of right whales in Cape Cod Bay near Provincetown. During a seven-hour research flight, 100 right whales were observed today.  Northern Right whales are highly endangered.  Only an estimated 450 North Right whales are known to exist, and yet almost a quarter of them have shown up to the party off Cape Cod.  Scientists say that the whales were probably attracted by an unusually large and long lasting  plankton bloom in the bay.   The whales feed on the surface and have been sighted from shore from beaches at Truro, Herring Cove and Race Point in Provincetown.

Record number of right whales in Cape waters

Endangered whales gather in unprecedented numbers