Pam and I have completed our 2009 photo-id survey of humpback whales in Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia. We travelled 462 nautical miles, sighted 169 pods and 417 whales during 3 weeks in September. We were able to photograph 378 whales including 92 mothers with calves. The images have been processed and will be added to the Centre for Whale Research's database for this Humpback population.
This new season Humpback calf has survived what must have been a painful and horrific injury during its first few weeks of life. This one metre gash is the result of a shipping collision - this could have been a recreational or commercial vessel but underpins the need for caution in whale nursery or rest areas. This photograph was taken by Pam Osborn on September 12 in Exmouth Gulf during a photographic survey of the humpback population using the Gulf as a rest area before the long Southern migration to Antarctica.
A newborn sperm whale suckles from mum. The calf is lying on its side and using the gape of the jaw to feed. Pico Island, Azores
When it comes to charismatic megafauna, this Sperm Whale in the Azores demonstrates superiority in the masculine dimension.
In two short weeks Pam and I have traveled from the mid-Atlantic waters and sperm whales in the Azores to the South Pacific and the humpback breeding grounds of Vava'u in the Kingdom of Tonga. Here conditions are very different with the humpbacks mating and also giving birth. About 16 new calves a year are born in Vava'u. These images have two humpbacks blowing bubbles as they pass by.
The pod moved from the wind strewn ocean to the sheltered waters in the lee of the volcano Pico. That night two brand new calves entered the world. The pod was moving slowly when we saw them the next morning. The calves swimming with a short jerky motion and thrusting their blowholes high out of the water to breathe.
vain for milk.
