Welcome,
Yes, your seeing the flared end of the "noise reducer" and the front sight. The hooded sight is removable and I took mine off. The hood is on by spring tension and the sight is dovetailed. It's a snug fit dovetail, tap gently on it sideways and it will come right out.
With my Whisper, I get the same dark half-moon shadow in the bottom of the scope when it's set on the lower powers. It disapears compleatly at 5 power and above.
The one - piece scope mount that came with my Whisper is a medium height. I like the scope as close as possable to the barrel centerline so I stuck with that height. I've gotten used to that shadow. It doesn't interfer in anyway with what I'm aiming at.
Just make sure the scope body is not touching the reciever.
You can get a higher mount but you'll still probaly see some of that noise reducer on the lowest power and it will bring your cheek off the gun even more. To get a good check weld, I had to add a check pad even with the medium high mount.
Paul.