By Mike Busch

Raising fears of another potential stranding, at least one Humpback Whale has been seen in Reynolds Channel east of the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

Fire Island and Beyond contributor Tim DelGresso saw the Whale on Thursday and submitted some drone footage above along with some close up cell phone video taken yesterday next to the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

Large numbers of Humpback Whales have been off the south shore beaches feasting on Menhaden lately but when they enter our inlets they are susceptible to getting stranded in shallow water.

It was at this time last year a Humpback Whale grounded in Moriches Bay and started a two-week saga that ended up with a controversial euthanization, click here for a summary with video and images. 

Fortunately the whale appears healthy, Reynolds Channel is fairly deep and it is a straight shot back under the bridge back to open water.

The Nassau Police, United States Coast Guard and Marine Biologists are monitoring the situation and we will keep you updated.

On a related note, we had reports of numerous whales feeding up and down the South Shore yesterday.

My friend Scott McInnes of LINYCimages.com was out yesterday just outside of Reynolds Channel and ran into another Humpback Whale and submitted the photos below.

We have forwarded the images to our friends at Gotham Whale to see if it is in their database.  Unfortunately, this whale is trailing what looks to be some braided fishing line behind the fluke but it doesn’t appear to be stressing the animal.