SHALLOW waters glow in the midday sun off northern Norway, where a mass of Atlantic herring have caught the attention of humpback whales (left) and killer whales (right). That large black splotch isn鈥檛 a sandbank: it鈥檚 a shoal of millions of fish about to be feasted upon.
This photograph was shot using a drone last year off the island of Kval酶ya. It was taken in January, a time of year when Norway sees little sunshine. Indeed, the light is coming from low on the horizon, despite it being midday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 before we get the sun back,鈥� says wildlife photographer Espen Bergersen. That鈥檚 what gives the water its vivid colour.
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Bergersen says it was -13掳C on this day. 鈥淲e were planning to go out in the boat, but it was freezing cold,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was lucky I couldn鈥檛 start my boat, I guess. I decided to go up with my drone and got this photograph.鈥�
While operating the drone from a nearby bridge, he noticed whales circling its supports. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen them do that before,鈥� he says.
The herring populations have migrated northward over the past 10 to 15 years, Bergersen says, leaving behind the fjords of southern Norway and providing a new feeding ground for humpback whales. The whales stop by on their way from Svalbard 鈥� an archipelago between the North Pole and mainland Norway 鈥� to the Caribbean, where they spend the winter.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淕reen light for hunt鈥�
