Whale parents
Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 5:42 pm
While watching a mother humpback whale and her calf near San Juan Island, it occurred to me that I have never seen a gray whale with a calf. Grays form the overwhelming majority of my whale observations since they swim in front of my house, yet I've never seen one with its young. With humpbacks however, I have posted pictures of mama with an incredibly small newborn in Hawaii and shots of a mother and a calf nearly as large as she is near Race Rocks. This is the way it is with humpbacks. A juvenile stays right next to mom from birth, as they swim across the ocean from Hawaii, and while the calf learns to hunt. The youngster nurses the whole time. Eventually the mother decides she is done with this and dives down, leaving the calf to fend for itself. The pictures I got recently show a calf about half grown.
They swam into the fog giving a sepia tone to the photo.
Shortly later, I ran into a pod of Orca, also off San Juan Island. These are the mammal eaters, a healthy population, not the endangered ones you hear so much about. Orca young remain with their family group for most of their life. In each of my pictures you see a large adult accompanied by smaller young.
Someday, I may go to the lagoons in Baja where grays give birth, and get some shots of a mother with her calf
-Curt
- HumpCalf1
- HumpCalf2
- Humpcalf3
- OrcaPod1
- OrcaPod2
- OrcaPod3
-Curt
and hopefully come see whales with you Curt 