Visiting UK doctor Vaughan Keeley had a whale of a wildlife experience this week and not one he was expecting on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island.
He and his Australian friends from Adelaide spotted a humpback whale breaching enthusiastically off Cape d’Estaing at Emu Bay.
They watched the single, adult humpback whale frolic away for what seemed like eternity but was probably half an hour, Dr Keeley said.
“It was an amazing experience, absolutely incredible,” he said.
He was able to capture amazing images of the whale with Cape d’Estaing in the background using his new 400mm lens.
Humpback whale sightings off Kangaroo Island are becoming increasingly common as the population recovers from whaling.
There were several reports of humpbacks travelling and breaching in the backstairs passage off Penneshaw this whale season.
Kangaroo Island/Victor Harbor Dolphin Watch coordinator Tony Bartram said it was no so unusual to see humpbacks off Kangaroo Island this late in the year.
Because their migration pattern was less defined than that of the southern right whale, and simply because their numbers were increasing every year.
“Unfortunately that’s not the case for the southern right whales and we don’t know why,” Mr Bartram said.
The two distinct populations of east and west coast humpback whales were not only recovering but the movements were also changing, with some thinking changing ocean conditions meant they were staying off the Australian coast but further out for longer periods, he said.
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Stan Gorton
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
