Last year, I shared a video with you guys of a group of sperm whales we came across while sailing between Menorca and Barcelona. We were lucky, because the whales came incredibly close to our boat. The research association Edmaktub, who I also briefly mentioned back then, does whale watching on a whole other level – with drones.

Drones have changed photography and videography in the travel and nature space a lot over the last few years, but I think there are few areas where they’ve had an impact as big as in the observation of animals in the wild. Edmaktub are taking full advantage of what drones can do, and they just released an incredible video that you have to see: two fin whales feeding at the surface.

This was taken not far from where we saw our group of whales, near the Costa de Garraf (South of Barcelona). People keep being really surprised to hear that there are whales here in the area, but it’s actually really not uncommon to spot whales during the season between February and June.

Snapshot of a whale fin (not of a fin whale – this is where things get confusing!) that I took last year

In the video, the two whales open their mouths to trap huge masses of water inside their bodies, making them swell up two twice their normal body size all the way to their mid section. Fin whales are so called “filter-feeders”, which means after closing their mouths they will filter out the food, expelling the water through baleen plates which act like filter brushes that will trap food inside their mouths while letting water out (yes, I needed Wikipedia for that one). I find these images spectacular. But the thought of all the plastic floating around in our oceans also scares me when thinking about their future.

Ok, here’s the fin whale video:

If you want to find out more about whales, take a look at Edmaktub’s website. By the way, they also take research assistant volunteers on their whale watching trips. It’s a non-touristy, non intrusive way to observe these remarkable animals.

Or check out my videos of whales from last year’s sailing trip to Menorca if you can’t make it to the Mediterranean right now!

Credit: Title image and video by EDMAKTUB. The slightly wobbly photo of a sperm whale fin was taken by me – I don’t have a drone – yet!