Perth Humpback Whale calves are making the most of their final few weeks travelling along the Western Australian coastline as dozens of mums and bubs were sighted today. It is always a fantastic time of the season as we have the opportunity of meeting the new members of our ever growing Humpback Whale population. The little ones have grown in confidence and size as they continue to understand and learn the Language of the Whales from their mum and nearby pods. Today we had a great mix of resting pods and surface active pods as they all took turns to practice some breaching, tail lobbing and pec slapping. It was wonderful to watch and see just how coordinated the Perth Humpback Whale calves are becoming as each breach improves their technique and builds strength. One of the mums joined in with some breaching of her own to encourage her calf before the little one with the black belly took over. She stretched out and breached her way towards us before approaching for a closer look with mum.
It was lovely to watch their energy shift from playtime to curiosity as both mum and calf were very interested towards us as the mother whale calmly guided her calf past. Eventually settling in for a rest we moved out towards a couple fo other pods who were resting and came across a very pleasant surprise. A beautiful female with unique white markings came swimming towards us and surfaced right in front of our bow. Our Whale Watch Research is onboard every tour and today was a wonderful example of the importance of our identification image collection work completed throughout every tour. The very beautiful mother whale and her unique calf were individuals we had met back on the 26th October and it is fantastic to learn how long some of these pods remain in our resting grounds. She will be very close to departing the coastline of Perth and we hope to see her once more before she does, but she certainly has taught us much during her time here. Everyday is a wonderful opportunity to continue our study and research of this incredible population and days like today are very rewarding to have a mother whale recognise us and approach to say hello just like family.
