The two minke whales observed in Montreal this week had not been spotted for several hours on Sunday morning, although a specimen of the species was seen at the end of the morning further downstream.
Posted at 12:45 p.m.
“At 10:45 a.m., the Canadian Coast Guard reported that the boat Carolus Magnus would have seen a minke whale near Cap St-Michel 25 km downstream from Sainte-Hélène island, ”says the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) on Sunday.
It could be one of the two whales observed in the St. Lawrence River near Montreal earlier this week, which would thus be turning back.
The last sighting of the first minke whale to arrive in Montreal waters last week dates back to 5 p.m. Saturday, near the Three Discs monument, west of Île Sainte-Hélène.
“For its part, the second minke whale was still in the same place in the Le Moyne channel between the Cosmos footbridge and the Islands bridge at 9 p.m.” on Saturday, specifies the GREMM.
The presence of two minke whales in the St. Lawrence River near Montreal is a highly unusual phenomenon, never observed in recent history.
In 2020, a humpback whale also dazzled Montrealers with its jumps in the St. Lawrence River, cheering up the confined population at the start of the pandemic. However, the whale was found stranded near Varennes two weeks later.
In 2012, a beluga also came up to Montreal, causing a surprise. Before that, we have to go back to 1901 for the last whale observed in the metropolis.