Bachelor male Humpback Whales are currently causing trouble in the sighting grounds as they look for females to flirt with and cheekily ignore the escort males travelling with those females to their dismay! It was a huge commotion of white water and energy this morning as one lone bachelor male approached two separate escort pods. He caused much fuss and commotion as the female took off and left the males to compete as they boys pushed and shoved each other. Trying to keep up with the females constant twists and turns, there was plenty of fluke swiping and chin slaps as the challenger came close to the female on a number of occasions. It was the original male escort who managed to hold his spot closest to her though and after a while the bachelor male departed and began to move out towards a second pod.
Repeating the process all over again we watched on as this bachelor male inspired us with his determination and effort so late in the season to try and find a female he could join with and protect for the remaining swim back to Antarctica. The midday tour was a great example of what happens once these males succeed as we joined with a very relaxed escort pod as the big male did a good job of keeping close to his his girl. It was great to see these two very relaxed and content, curious towards us as they came over for a closer look. Meanwhile the other pods in the vicinity were acting in a similar manner as they kept to themselves with an odd tail slap or peduncle slap to maintain their reactionary distance from other pods moving past nearby. It was a fascinating day with the bachelor male Humpback Whales to see how they are always busy during this epic annual migration.
