Late-born southern right whale calf Ringkari and her mother may have finally left South Australian waters after a final sighting off Kangaroo Island last month.
Whale observers want to hear if there have been any additional sightings of the mother-calf pair since Ringkari and her mother Winkulari were seen at Stokes Bay on December 4.
Originally there were concerns for the calf’s survival given how late in the season she was born, and whether she would have time to grow large enough and develop enough fat layers to then migrate with her mother to sub-Antarctic waters.
SA Whale Centre senior whale spotter Elizabeth Steele-Collins said she received a report of a southern right whale mother and calf at Stokes Bay early in December.
She wants to know if anyone else may have seen the pair off Kangaroo Island in the weeks before or after this time.
“It certainly would be interesting to know if anyone else on Kangaroo Island had sightings of the mother and calf pair around that time,” she said.
She has since spoken to Tony Bartram from the Kangaroo Island Victor Harbor Dolphin Watch group and north coast tour operator Andrew Neighbour and neither were aware of any subsequent sightings.
“My hunch is that the mother and calf pair headed west past Cape Borda and Flinders Chase, otherwise there would have likely been sightings reported in the more populated area as the pair headed towards Emu Bay and through Backstairs Passage.”
The calf was born in Encounter Bay waters in mid September, whereas the average southern right whale calf is born in mid July.
The mother and calf stayed in the whale nursery area of Encounter Bay for seven weeks.
After leaving, they headed to Cape Jervis and then over to lower Eyre Peninsula where they were seen by land-based whale observers, sticking close to the coast for about three weeks.
From there, they travelled to the Yorke Peninsula where they were seen by fishermen in late November.
“It is likely the mother knew the calf needed to grow larger and stronger before embarking on the long journey to sub Antarctic waters,” Elizabeth said.
There had been great networking happening across SA over all these weeks to track the pair’s progress.
“Registered whale spotters on Eyre Peninsula and around SA worked very hard following the whales around the coast,” she said.
The SA Whale Centre team consulted with local Ngarrindjeri people to come up with names for the pair; the mother is called Winkulari, meaning “whale”, and the calf is Ringkari, meaning “white”, as she was very light-coloured when first born and also has large, distinctive white markings on its belly.
Elizabeth said when the pair were last sighted, the calf was 11 weeks old and it was encouraging to see how large and fat the calf had grown during that time.
“It has been great being able to join the dots on the map as we’ve traced the movements of this special pair around the coast since Winkulari first arrived in Encounter Bay as a pregnant female in August,” she said.
“Winkulari is a special whale as she has a number of very distinctive white blazes on her back and not many whales have these type of markings, which makes her easier to identify.
Whale spotters from Encounter Bay, Eyre Peninsula and Yorke Peninsula and now Kangaroo Island looked forward to sightings of these special whales in years to come, she said.
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.
