First Humpback mum and calf heading south for our Perth season was sighted today as they both enjoyed breaching enthusiastically in the breeze. Scanning the sighting grounds carefully we could see that the movement of whales migrating past Perth had slowed slightly today which turned out to be perfect for our pod we sighted this morning. Although early in the southern migration we sighted our first southbound mother and calf for the season which was very exciting. The pod were moving quickly into the sighting grounds as mother whale launched into powerful breaching which encouraged her calf to quickly follow. The little one breached repeatedly and then decided to try out some head lunging. Landing with a big splash and sending white water flying it was beautiful to watch mother whale teaching and encouraging her calf to practice the Language of the Whales.
Looking at this young calf we could see a very healthy individual and most likely this calf was born in early winter and could be one of the reasons why mother and calf are heading south early. The little one is healthy, fighting fit and ready to see what the Western Australian coastline is all about on his or hers first ever southern migration. After a big surface display both mother and calf swam directly over to us curiously and investigated the Steep Point before moving further into the resting grounds. The mother whale will look for a perfect place to relax and feed her calf for the afternoon and catchup on some rest over this evening. The calf seemed rather excited to be settling into a new home for the night after a big swim to get to this location and we wished them both well for a relaxing afternoon ahead. The coming days will be interesting to see if we have more mother and calves heading south early of if the younger adult whales resume their takeover of the coastline for the next couple of weeks.
