NEW YORK (PIX11) – Scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society captured photos of humpback whales with the New York City skyline as a backdrop on Wednesday. 

“It’s clear that whales have become regular New Yorkers,” said the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Ocean Giants Program. 

The images were captured last Wednesday, Aug. 2 just five miles from WCS’s New York Aquarium in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

The WCS Ocean Giants Program collects data for long-term studies focusing on whales and other marine mammals that use our local waters. 

In July 2023, two men fishing off a New York City shoreline spotted a whale breaching under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, according to a viral social media video.

The NYC Parks Department said whales have been coming to New York harbors for thousands of years and are actually not too uncommon.

Sarah Trabue, WCS Ocean Giants/Activities conducted pursuant to NMFS ESA/MMP Permit No. 27507