New York Has A New Visitor! Whale Spotted For Third Time In Same Week In Hudson River

It was definitely an unexpected treat for whale watchers, when a humpback whale showed up out of the blue in the Hudson River on Sunday.

According to a report in the Smithsonian Magazine, this is the third time in less than a week that the mammal was spotted in New Jersey's waterways.

The whale was reportedly sighted near the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor on Thursday. Later in the week on Friday, observers saw the sea mammal near the George Washington Bridge. The U.S. Coastguard warned boaters near the George Washington Bridge to be on the lookout and steer clear of the whale, which was later on escorted back toward the New York Harbor, as reported by CBS New York.

In the latest sighting on Sunday, the whale was spotted in the Hudson River off the Holland Tunnel. The Coast Guard issued a warning to commercial vessels to watch out for the whale. According to a New York Daily News report, a watcher last saw the whale near Pier 88 at around 4:45 p.m.

"We have binoculars, so we looked over by Pier 88, Pier 90, and it was right outside the pier there," said Michael Moss who caught sight of the whale from his home in Weehawken, New Jersey.

It has not been confirmed if the three whale sightings that took place during the week were of the same mammal. Incidentally, sea mammal tracking organization Gotham Whale has catalogued more than 100 sightings of whales in the New York City area this year.

However, the huge marine mammals are normally seen along the Rockway Beach and New Jersey shoreline. According to Gotham Whale, what makes the recent sightings interesting is that this is the farthest north that whales have been seen in the waterways in recent years.