Flinders Bay nursery grounds are a precious place hidden along the southern Western Australian coastline where the next generation of special Southern Right Whales are born and raised. The season is changing and with the increased sunshine and daytime temperatures, the calves are really starting to put on the kilos! Everyday these calves are putting on approximately 50 kilograms of weight and now that their little bodies have a comfortable amount of blubber reserves building up nothing seems to slow down their growth. Our first meeting was in glass off conditions as one of the local mother Bottlenose Dolphins and her calf approached our bow and glided past. The weather was perfect and we were soaking in the beautiful conditions as we sighted our first mother and calf Southern Right Whale pod for the morning just up ahead.
Gently lifting his small head above the surface to take a peak at us, the calf seemed pleased to have some fans coming to visit him in the Flinders Bay nursery grounds. All along the coastline mums and their little ones dotted along every few hundred meters as they enjoyed calm conditions, twisting and rolling in the shallows. The Bottlenose Dolphins were back again and this time 15+ individuals swam towards us curiously, not busily feeding as they had been yesterday. Saying their hellos before continuing on with their foraging, we again returned our attention to the mothers and calves. One of the older females and her calf gently moved towards us in curiosity, surfacing close by we could hear the gentle but powerful exhalations of mum. Her calf is now developing a stronger lung capacity also and his little exhale is no longer so little anymore!
