Kevin Dolan had just finished his lunch Monday in his usual spot, on the banks of the Susquehanna River near the U.S. 40 bridge in Havre de Grace. Something gun-metal gray, about the size of a tractor-trailer, caught his eye in the river.
"I looked up and saw this large form," 30 to 40 feet long, the 34-year-old bank employee recalled yesterday. He saw it spout. "I saw the tail lift up and go down. . . . It was beautiful. I will never, ever forget it."
Mr. Dolan's fleeting glance of a large whale heading downriver toward the Chesapeake Bay -- before it disappeared into the fog -- was one of four unusual sightings since Friday of an unknown number of the marine mammals in Middle Atlantic waterways. Scientists throughout the region were still abuzz yesterday as they tried to track the whales and ensure safe passage of the federally protected animals.
Two of the sightings constituted the first reports of large whales in the upper Chesapeake since March 1992.
A 30-foot right whale, a rare species nearly hunted to extinction, was first seen in the Delaware River at Philadelphia last weekend. It appeared to be heading toward the Atlantic Ocean Monday, but was spotted yesterday afternoon -- swimming north in the middle of the shipping channel.
"If this whale decides to stay where it's at, sooner or later it's probably going to get hit," said Ed Lyman, a marine biologist with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass.
On Friday, boat captains reported a large whale heading west out of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and into Elk River, toward the Chesapeake Bay.
On Saturday, fishermen saw what appeared to be a 30-foot humpback whale near the mouth of the Potomac River. The animal had a humpback's characteristic black and white markings on the underside of its tail, and long, winglike pectoral fins.
David Schofield of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, who was tracking reports of whales in the Chesapeake, said there may be three different whales -- and that it was likely the humpback whale seen near the Potomac had traveled up the bay to the Susquehanna.
The state Department of Natural Resources asked that whale sightings in Maryland be reported on a 24-hour hot line, (800) 628-9944.
Some news reports have called the animals "lost," but scientists say that may not be correct. "It's probably just part of their larger migratory pattern," said Lynn Clements of the Virginia Marine Science Museum.