A blanket of winter rain settled over Flinders Bay today and it was a picture perfect rainy winters day in this beautiful region. For our female Southern Right Whales it was the perfect opportunity to take a few moments to teach their calves some important behaviours and today’s lesson was… head lunging! One little calf repeated and practiced his head lunging over 20 times and definitely improved his technique by the end of his lesson.
A little bit tired he then decided to have a few curious peeks at us by spy hopping and having a good look about before trying to “climb” up the flank of mum as she gently surfaced next to her calf. We love every moment spent with our whales and there is always something very special about watching a baby whale learning and enjoying all these new experiences in their very young lives❤️
We also spent a little bit of time with another mother/calf Southern Right pod who had an “Aunty” with them. This is very special to see as an Aunty whale is an individual Southern Right who will help protect mother and calf. This Southern Right pod of three were also enjoying themselves socialising on the surface with a lot of rolling and spy hopping going on and because they are so large often when they do roll around a bit they will lift their tail flukes above the surface showing off absolutely enormous flukes!
ID Log
Date – 11.8.16
Species – Southern Right
Lat – Undisclosed Long – Undisclosed (Nursery Status)
Notes – Mother and calf pod with aunty
