Intense Humpback heat run was observed today as seven enormous bachelor males charged after each other in pursuit of a lovely female. Departing the Augusta Boat Harbour we approached a large gathering of multiple pods as over a dozen Humpback Whales scattered left, right and centre! The bachelor males had caused much commotion as all pods tried to avoid their attention, diverting away as quickly as possible but that didn’t work for two seperate escort pods. The males who had been traveling with their females happily now had a challenge on their hands as within a few hundred meters of each other two seperate competition pods began to form. It was thrilling to watch as they charged after each other with white water flying and dramatic manoeuvres observed as they pivoted, dived and lurched forwards at high speeds. The primary male escort of the female spied us and decided we would make a perfect distraction as he guided her towards us and moved directly underneath.
The bachelor males all did the same and it was outstanding to be so close to this intense heat run as whales popped up on all sides of the Steep Point. The escort male was working hard and even amongst this incredibly tough competition he managed to hold on to his position closest to the female and after over an hour of battle he successfully guided his female away and what a relief that must have been for him! The remaining bachelors were still high on adrenaline and the only thing that started to settle them down was the local Bottlenose Dolphins who raced over to see what all the commotion was about. The trumpeting was so loud as the remaining boys were still boisterous in their interactions amongst each other but the dolphins began to settle the intensity down little by little. Eventually all the males moved off with a buddy, it was interesting to watch how these bachelor pods formed. Humpback Whales are just like ourselves and all have unique personalities and when they meet another whale with similar personality traits they tend to get on well. The boys beelined the reef line and it was good to see them ready for their exit of Flinders Bay and the continuation of their northern migration, hopefully with many more females to compete for along the way!
