Humpback mother and calf southern migration on another wonderful day spent with many pods in the waters just off Fremantle. We started our morning tour with a very curious mum and calf who we actually saw on our Saturday tour, she was very happy to see us as were we. It just goes to show the respect and time we give our whales when we meet each pod has a lasting effect as this mother and calf wasted no time in rushing over to come see us.
The mother and calf swam around our vessel many times, bringing her calf right up to the bow where our Pod Members were delighted to see them so close. After some time spent with us they soon were distracted by another mother and calf being very inviting with surface behaviour. It didn’t take long until the two pods came together and the little calves were testing out their Language of the Whales with matching tail lobs and little pec slaps.
As we sat and watched these two calves play around another pod came over and continued the playful behaviour. Two calves became three and they were very excited trying to get close to each other before the mums would block the calves if they got too boisterous. These interactions can last ten minutes or hours but in this case almost thirty minutes was enough for one mother and calf as she tail lobbed out of the water to give herself some more space she slowly moved off.
Our afternoon tour was very similar with over six mother and calf pods very close to each other. We started with two mother and calves playing together with another mum and calf pod coming in from behind us trying to use our boat’s sound to mask their own to slowly get closer to the other two pods without them noticing each other. It didn’t last long until the two pods heard the other mum and calf pod come around the corner. It took one of the calves a little longer to notice as he was too busy playing with the seaweed, when he finally realised there was a new friend to play with he stopped playing with the seaweed and rushed over to his new friend.
The three pods were playing and socialising together for sometime until a few tail lobs by the calves were made and they slowly broke away. We saw another three pods within a hundred meters of each other all doing the same rolling around on the surface with the occasional soft tail lob. One of the calves was flushing his mouth out with sea water letting us see all his baleen he will be using to feed on krill very soon as he migrates south to Antarctica with his mum.
It’s always so good to see so many baby humpbacks migrating south in such good health and lots of energy. We will head out again tomorrow to hopefully see some more little ones coming down the coast getting ready for the big southern migration.
