Photographer captures whale calf burping off Eagle Bay
Dunsborough photographer Ian Wiese captured an incredible image of a Southern right whale calf burping off Eagle Bay last week.
Mr Wiese said the mother was feeding her calf about 350 metres off Eagle Bay and stayed for about 20 minutes at a time and the calf was under her in a feeding position.
“It burped about six times while I was videoing them, and each time released an enormous bubble of gas,” he said.
Mr Wiese said it has been a great year for Southern right whales sightings with triple the amount of previous years, however the mammals were still critically endangered and had not experienced the rapid recovery in numbers of the humpbacks.
“They normally migrate in winter to the Great Australian Bite, and as the numbers grow they are spreading around the corners – Albany, Augusta, and now Geographe Bay,” he said.
“The pregnant females give birth and then raise their calves. They have to fatten them up to prepare them for the return to the cold Antarctic waters over summer.
“They look for the small bays such as we find here.”
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Margaret River Mail
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