Humpbacks are close to shore in summer and autumn in the New York Bight, and right whales are detected in spring and winter.
In season in New York right now: Humpback whaleEvery window below is the wording of the agency that publishes it, reproduced exactly, with a link. Where two agencies describe the same animal differently, both are shown.
June 1 to November 30
“Humpback whales are very commonly seen around New York, close to shore in the summer and fall”
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
What you are looking for: A tall columnar blow, a small dorsal fin on a hump, and the black and white underside of the tail as it dives. The only large whale that routinely breaches clear of the water.
November 1 to April 30
“The majority of North Atlantic right whale sightings in New York is within 50 miles of shore”
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
DEC's acoustic monitoring reports regular right whale detection in spring and winter. The ribbon dates are the federal mid-Atlantic Seasonal Management Area, November 1 to April 30, which covers a 20 nautical mile radius around the entrance to the Port of New York and New Jersey.
What you are looking for: No dorsal fin at all, a broad black back, a V shaped blow from two separated blowholes, and rough white callosity patches on the head. If you think you have seen one, NOAA runs sighting hotlines: (866) 755-6622 from Maine to Virginia, (877) 942-5343 from North Carolina to Florida.
January 1 to February 28
“consistently detected at offshore sites in January and February”
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Detected by underwater microphone at offshore sites, not seen. Nobody is watching blue whales from Long Island.
What you are looking for: A blow up to 30 feet, the tallest of any whale, and a mottled blue grey back so long that the tiny dorsal fin appears only as the animal finishes its dive. Mostly an offshore animal: NOAA's Monterey Bay sanctuary places blue whales in "the offshore waters of the sanctuary", so this is a boat species, not a headland species.
New York has an internal disagreement worth knowing about, because it shows why a single agency page is not enough. DEC's own 2010 whale guide says humpbacks spend January through March on Caribbean breeding grounds; DEC's own acoustic monitoring programme finds humpback presence peaking in summer and autumn. Both are DEC. Summer and autumn is the answer that both the newer data and the public observation record support.
Checking the most recent public whale record in New York…
No New York agency page we could verify describes watching whales from land. The Department of Environmental Conservation lists humpbacks among the wildlife at Montauk Point, but its viewing sentence there is about seabirds, and its whale content elsewhere points at boats.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
No federal or state agency names a specific New York shore lookout in its own words, so none is listed here; the agencies' own assessment of shore viewing on this coast is above.
Approach distances differ by species and by region, and the differences are large enough that a number remembered from another coast can put you in breach of federal law. Below, the rule for each species that has a published season here, quoted from the agency that issues it.
“In Hawaii and Alaska, it is illegal to approach a humpback whale within 100 yards, by land or sea. It is also illegal to approach humpback whales in Hawaii within 1,000 feet (333 yards) by air.”
NOAA Fisheries, Humpback Whale: Resources
Note the phrase "by land or sea". NOAA states this rule two different ways on two of its own pages: the species resources page says "by land or sea", while its general viewing guidelines page frames the same 100 yards as a requirement on vessels. Outside Hawaii and Alaska the 100 yards is guidance rather than a humpback-specific law.
“NOAA Fisheries has regulations that prohibit approaching or remaining within 500 yards (1,500 feet) of a right whale.”
NOAA Fisheries, North Atlantic Right Whale
This is five times the distance that applies to every other whale, and it is the strictest approach rule for any whale in US waters. NOAA words the restriction as applying to approaches "whether by vessel, aircraft or other means", and a separate line requires aircraft and drones to maintain a 1,500 foot minimum altitude over right whales. A drone launched from a beach is covered. No agency page states whether the rule reaches a person standing still on the sand. If a right whale comes to you, NOAA's instruction is to "immediately depart from the area at a slow, safe speed in a direction away from the whale."
“NOAA asks people watching blue whales to "maintain a minimum distance of at least 100 yards and limit your observation time to 30 minutes or less".”
Never approach a whale to get a better view, and never put a drone over one. If an animal comes to you, the instruction from NOAA is to move away from it, slowly, not to hold position for a photograph.
The United States restricts vessel speed in specific areas during specific annual windows to reduce ship strikes on North Atlantic right whales. These are shipping rules rather than viewing guidance, and we reproduce them because they are the federal government’s own dated statement of when this species is expected in this water. The ones touching New York:
The mid-Atlantic: Block Island Sound, a 20 nautical mile radius around the entrances to the Port of New York and New Jersey, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay and Morehead City, and a continuous 20 nautical mile coastal band from Wilmington, North Carolina to Brunswick, Georgia
The corridor pregnant females use to get south and back. It is why New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, the Carolinas and Virginia all sit inside a federal right whale season even though none of them has an agency published viewing season.
Reproduced from NOAA Fisheries, Reducing Vessel Strikes to North Atlantic Right Whales. These are vessel speed restrictions, not viewing guidance; they are reproduced here because they are the United States government’s own dated, mapped statement of when right whales are expected in a given piece of water.
The chart below counts research-grade public observations by month. It is not a season. It is a record of when somebody was standing in the right place with a camera and knew what they were looking at, and that depends at least as much on tourism and daylight as on whales. Winter is systematically under-counted everywhere on this coast for exactly that reason.
It earns its place because when it disagrees with the agency window, the disagreement usually has a cause worth understanding.
Reading the public observation record for Humpback whale in New York…
Gray whales pass twice, southbound from December and northbound from mid-February, and California has more agency-named shore lookouts than any other state.
Agencies name shore sites hereThousands of gray whales pass mid-December to mid-January going south and from late March going north, and about 200 stay all summer.
Agencies name shore sites hereGray whales pass the outer coast in spring, and the inland waters hold killer whales under the strictest state approach law in the country.
Shore viewing is possible but agencies are cautiousThe summer feeding ground for the humpbacks that spend their winter in Hawaii, and the National Park Service says they feed within a mile of shore.
Shore viewing is possible but agencies are cautiousHumpbacks are here November through April with the peak from January through March, and the sanctuary itself says you can see them from shore.
Agencies name shore sites hereHumpbacks arrive in April and are in large numbers through the summer, and right whales fill Cape Cod Bay in late winter under a federal January to May shipping rule.
Shore viewing is possible but agencies are cautiousHumpbacks, finbacks and minkes feed in the Gulf of Maine through spring, summer and autumn, and the National Park Service says do not expect to see them from shore.
Agencies say do not expect to see whales from shoreThe only known calving ground on earth for the North Atlantic right whale, occupied from mid-November to mid-April.
Shore viewing is possible but agencies are cautiousThe southern half of the right whale calving ground, mid-November to mid-April, and the one state whose wildlife agency says the whales are often visible from the beach.
Shore viewing is possible but agencies are cautiousA winter state, unusually: humpbacks concentrate off the Virginia coast in January and February while New England is empty.
Agencies say do not expect to see whales from shoreNot seeing your state? The hub names every coastal state without a page here and explains why, including the whole Gulf coast and most of the mid-Atlantic.
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Seasons and approach distances on this page are quoted from the agency named beside each one, with a link. Nothing is modelled or averaged. Monthly observation counts are read live in your browser from the iNaturalist API and record when people reported whales, not when whales were present.
Hero image: “Adult Humpback Whale breaching” by Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 3.0