Best Whale Watching in Perth is often seen between Rottnest Island and the coastline of Perth during the spring as we sight the southern Humpback Whale migration. Today it was all about the Language of the Whales as mothers and calves enjoyed the resting grounds. Wedged in-between two little families we watched as each calf kept a curious eye peeled towards the other as the mother whales took the opportunity to do a bit of feeding. The calves are happily consuming up to 300 litres of milk each day over many meals and this morning breakfast was being enjoyed. The females produce milk through their fat reserves and during this time of the year the females have lost a lot of weight as they near the end of their migration.
Grace and the Fat Whales Project team could observe through her drone that each female was distinctively different with one looking healthy with weight loss as expected but overall still in good condition. The second female was much thinner and looked to have had a harder migration, a good example of how important these resting grounds are for the visiting mums to take some time to rest and relax. The calves were full of beans as they practiced breaching, head lunging and tail lobbing while mum joined in with her pec slaps. The enormous one thousand kilogram pectoral fin made her calf appear small as the little one launched as high as possible. The local Bottlenose Dolphins cruised past the bow for morning greetings as Osprey called out above on a beautiful morning enjoying some of the best whale watching in Perth.
