All the following recorded whale sounds on this website are copyrighted and may not be used without our permission!

Humpback whales are known for their singing: these 'classical' whale songs could only be heard in their breeding grounds. For the population of the North Pacific this could be the waters around Hawaii sein, but also the coastal regions fo Mexiko or Japan. But this is only one population out of six different ones world wide and as every single one has it's own 'dialect' the songs differ from each other.

In this archive we have whale sounds recorded off of Maui produced by Kent Noonan, our sound engineer as well as feeding calls off their feeding grounds in Alaska, courtesy by the Jupiter Foundation - enjoy!

Recordings off of Maui, Hawaii by Kent Noonan, Sound Engineer of The Whalesong Project
Buoy, hydrophone 2007	March 2007
Buoy, hydrophone 2007	February 2007
Kayak, Aquarian Hydrophone	April 2006
Buoy, Whale up close	February 2005
Buoy, Hydrophone 2005	January 2005
Kayak, Aquarian Hydrophone	February 2004
Buoy, full moon 2003	Kalama Lullaby
Buoy No 1, Hydrophone 2001	April 2001
Buoy No 1, Hydrophone 2001	April 2001

Whales also produce sounds in Alaskan waters as you can hear here:

Whales off of Alaska courtesy of Dick Callahan
Alaska fall 2008	Track 1
Alaska fall 2008	Track 2
Alaska fall 2007	Track 1

Hear yourself - the feeding calls can't be compared to the 'classical' whale songs. It's more like commands when they go hunting their prey together:

Feeding calls off of Angoon, Alaska courtesy of the Jupiter Foundation
Alaska 2005	Track 1
Alaska 2005	Track 2
Alaska 2005	Track 3

Increasing noise pollution, in the form of underwater explorations for oil or gas, ships, air guns or newly developed underwater sonar systems, is affecting the navigational abilities of the whales. The 'LFAS' (low frequency active sonar) is able to detect quiet vessels and therefore it produces extremely loud sound waves (up to 235 db!). All this could be linked to the increasing number of marine mammal strandings. Imagine this: for the human ear a sound level of 'just' 85 db is meant to be dangerous...

Sound samples of sonar systems and others

Sonar 1

Sonar 2

Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFA) recorded in 1994 off Washington state while the Navy source ship was transmitting off San Diego about 1000 miles distant

The sound of the 52 m NOAA research vessel MacArthur at about 3/4 mile range in calm seas as recorded on a sonobuoy

The sound of a large merchant vessel at a few miles in choppy seas as recorded on a sonobuoy

When a household light bulb is dropped overboard with a rock attached, it will self-implode at a depth of about 100 meters, producing an impulsive sound.  This recording is of such an implosion in 2400 m water depth where the echoes are distinctive corresponding to the water depth and hydrophone depth. Ocean acousticians sometimes use this technique as an inexpensive sound source

You want to enjoy whale songs at home? No problem - please contact us for one of our CDs.

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