Our darling baby Humpback Leeuwi was sighted today on both our morning and afternoon tours and is certainly enjoying becoming King of Flinders Bay! Most of the big boisterous Humpbacks have moved past Augusta and have reached the breeding/calving grounds found in the Kimberley’s. We still have a few Humpbacks in the bay who are enjoying some beautiful weather and with fewer big male Humpbacks around this leaves Leeuwi very much in charge of Flinders Bay…but of course he still listens to mum.
Very interestingly on this mornings tour Leeuwi’s mum did not have a male escort with her but when we met them again this afternoon a new adult Humpback was now with Leeuwi and his mum. This new male will be waiting for a chance to mate with mum so usually won’t be hanging around for very long before he continues on his way, so we will wait to see if he is still around next time we sight Leeuwi. Such a special moment also this afternoon when mum and Leeuwi went for a big full circle around our vessel only a few meters away which gave us a wonderful view of our precious Leeuwi.
Our Southern Right Whale mums are really enjoying this beautiful weather and one of the calves sighted today was looking very big and healthy. A fantastic sign for our visiting Southern Right population here in Flinders bay with so many happy and healthy calves around. Plenty of birdlife about today as well with a few Antarctic Skuas flying close to our bow and hoping for a morsel of food!
ID Log
Date – 5.8.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 21. 32 Long – 115 . 15. 27
Notes – New male escort of Leeuwi and mum (joined mother/calf pod today)
