I’ve wrapped up my stay in Tonga for the 2012 season, and I’ve commenced the long journey back to Asia.

Once I’m back and settled, I’ll do my best to crank out a summary of this season’s calf IDs. The good news is that it’s looking very likely that we’ll surpass 50 calf IDs. Seriously!

Male humpback whale calf (#42) playing in the blue

The only reason I hesitate in being more definitive is that with so many mother/ calf pair ID candidates, I’m allowing for the fact that I may have made mistakes or double-counted somewhere along the way. I caught one error early on, so it only(!) cost me 2.5 hours of work to fix it.

As you can imagine, the more calf IDs there are, the more difficult it becomes to check every new calf against all the previous ones. As the season wore on, I spent two to three hours each night cross-checking photos…most of the time in a cross-eyed, discombobulated state of exhaustion.

Fortunately, I’ve had a lot of practice doing this for many seasons, and I have a (mostly) logical system set up to help minimise obvious error.

I’m hoping to finish and post my calf count summary file in relatively short order, though the sheer number of IDs (still increasing) plus a series of upcoming events are conspiring against me: (a) I need to head out for my next trip in early November; (b) I am giving a talk about whales in Osaka (in Japanese…yikes!) on 26 October; and (c) I’m preparing a presentation about my annual calf ID count to be given by Allan Bowe at Whale Fest in the UK the weekend of 27 October. (I really wanted to attend Whale Fest, but alas, it is still not possible to occupy two places in space at the same points in time.)

For the time being, please take a look at my humpback whale calf count summary file from 2011 for an idea of the daunting task ahead of me.

Half Century Mark
As I mentioned above, I’m relatively certain that we broke the 50-calf level this season.

Assuming I haven’t majorly screwed up the IDs, this is doubly amazing, as I actually wasn’t trying too hard this season.

Having hit 48 calves last year, I sorta figured that I had proven my point…that there are lots and lots of humpback whale mother/ calf pairs that pass through the waters around Vava’u each season.

One would think this wasn’t a particular point of contention, but it was for many years.

Having hit this particular ball out of the park, I was intent on concentrating on other things (calf sex ratio, escort behaviour, unique physical trait appearances, etc.) this season, while continuing the calf count more for fun than anything else.

Well, so much for that.

Male calf (#46) with mommy and escort (one of two)

Subject to going through all the photos and associated information more carefully, here are some of the likely highlights to come out of this year’s data:

1. The calf/ boat-day ratio, which is my indicator of “calf density” as it were, will be significantly higher this year than in any other year, including 2011. What this seems to suggest is that in addition to the absolute number of calf IDs being high, the mother/ calf pair density through the season here was perhaps the highest since I commenced counting. I’ll explain more about how and why I calculate this figure when I post my summary, but if you’re interested, I’ve defined and calculated this ratio for past seasons and included the figures in an easy-to-understand graph in my 2011 summary.
2. There will, once again, be more female calves than males (among the calves for which I was able to determine sex). The ratio has favoured females in every season since I began keeping track. There is always the possibility of sheer coincidence, but given that this has been the case for four seasons running now, I’m feeling more certain that there is some significance to this.
3. We did not see any “long stay” mother/ calf pairs as we did in 2010 and 2011. The whales were transient (which actually seems to be the norm).
4. We did not see any calves with injuries akin to the those on calf 201114 Tahafa and several other baby whales in the 2011 season. This suggests that whatever was lurking in the neighborhood pouncing on the little ones last year (I guessed false killer whales) was not present this year.
5. We did not document any long-term escort-to-mother/ calf pair associations as we did in 2011. If you think about it, this make sense, given point 3. Since we didn’t have multiple encounters with a given mother/ calf pair over a long period of time, it follows that we didn’t see any accompanying escorts over an extended period.

Once, Twice, Three Times A Mommy
In addition to these summary points, we documented our first 3x mother!

The mother of 200816 Chibi was the mother of 200929 Floppy (female) is the mother of 201247 Yonjuunana (tentative ID).

You can see the previous calf IDs in my previous summary files (2008 humpback whale calf IDs; 2009 humpback whale calf IDs).

Even more exciting is that I was only able to document this 3x mother due to the help of three other people: Nonie Silver and Karen Stone in 2009; and Kirsty Bowe in 2012. I made the original ID in 2008, but in both 2009 and 2012, I did not photograph the mother. These three women did.

I’ve been rambling on for years about the value of working together and making use of technology to leverage individual efforts. This is a perfect example!

Distinctive body print of female humpback that is a 3x mother

Total Bummer
We also had one bummer of an experience concerning a calf on 4 October.

In North Bay, we came across a lone calf with no mother or other adult whales in sight. I managed to get a few photos for ID purposes, so I know that it wasn’t a calf I had seen before.

The sad fact though, is that there is no hope for the calf.

Humpback whale babies rely 100% on their mothers for sustenance and protection. Without her around, the calf is doomed.

There was also a calf that stranded in Ha’apai earlier in the season. Though people there banned together to re-float the little whale, there was, as I understand, no mother in the vicinity…so it’s almost certain that the calf concerned also did not make it.

I’ve written in the past about calf separations; it’s not a new topic or experience for me. It’s always depressing to see a calf whose days are numbered, but it’s best to call a spade a spade and recognise that calf separations are most likely a normal occurrence.

We can certainly discuss and debate the possible causes underlying such a tragic turn of events, but there is zero point being wishy-washy and sugar-coating the issue with false hope and denial.

White Pecs
As of now, my White Pec count stands at 20 individuals.

In case you’re not familiar with what I’m referring to…the term White Pec is what I use to describe whales that have white on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of their pectoral fins.

This is a common pigmentation pattern in the northern hemisphere. It exists down south as well, but it’s not as prevalent as up north.

Now…the reason I’m paying attention to this is that I first noticed such whales here in reasonable quantity during the 2006 season. Up until that point, I had never seen one, or if I had, I did not take note (nor had any of my friends…I asked around).

From 2007 to 2010, I didn’t see many, if any, each season.

Then in 2011, I recorded 10. And now in 2012, I have 20.

As a subset of the total count, I recorded my first two calves with white pectoral fins in 2011 (never saw/ noticed any before), and I have 9 calves with such pigmentation this season.

Hmmmmm.

Maybe there’s nothing to this, but it does make me wonder why such an obvious physical trait should be present in substantial quantity in a given season, but not in others. And also why calves with this pigmentation should suddenly appear in 2011, then show up in significant quantity in 2012.

And of course, it makes me wonder what will happen next year.

Earlier in the season, I made reference to the possibility that this outward physical trait may reflect an underlying genetic link, that perhaps the White Pecs are relatively closely related. If this were the case (which is far from certain), then perhaps these somewhat-related animals travel in loose association with one another.

If I had access to biopsy darts and a genetics lab, it’d be pretty easy to test for a possible genetic link, assuming the White Pecs show up again.

Lacking access to those things, I’m doing the next best thing I can think of, which is to use photos to track obvious physical traits and look for possible patterns.

As if the annual calf count weren’t time-consuming enough…I have to find time to go back through all my digital photos from 2005 onward (argh, argh, argh…not even going to contemplate trawling through film files) and dig out the White Pecs (as well as whales with split dorsal fins) to compile a summary of sightings over the 2005-2012 period.

Given my hectic travel schedule, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do this, but I’ll do my best to hit the RAW files again at year end when everyone else is drinking and being merry. Sigh…what I wouldn’t give for some helper elves.

Oh…speaking of White Pecs, we had our first long-term, in-season re-sighting of a White Pec. A male White Pec that was part of an 11-whale heat run on 31 August appeared again on 25 September as an escort to a mother/ calf pair (one that I haven’t assigned an ID to yet).

Exhilarating stuff for a whale geek like me.

Screen grab from video footage:
White Pec humpback in an 11-whale heat run on 31 Aug

Second sighting of the same White Pec whale on 25 September

Perfect People
I’m already pretty drained from the travel process (what’s not to love about schlepping baggage around, being asked to un-pack/ re-pack bags several times, lounging around in airport after airport, enduring the contortions of airplane seats, etc.), so I’m going to wrap this up and get another shot of caffeine to help me make it through the rest of the trip.

I do however want to take this opportunity to say “Thank You!!! (and thanks for putting up with me)” to everyone I spent time with during the season. The list is long and distinguished.

Once again, I had the privilege of spending time with incredibly fun, kind, intelligent, and accomplished people from many different walks of life…all of whom I hope will be life-long friends.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the 2012 calf count summary.

Just a few of the people who made the past two months a wonderful experience

Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 1
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 2
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 3
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 4
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 5

They are among the cutest, most inquisitive, and incredibly talented babies on the planet. I’ve observed and interacted with hundreds of them, and yet…I never tire of them. They never fail to surprise and delight me. Humpback whale calves are simply incredible.

As of today, my tally of humpback calves for this season stands at 38. For context…that’s only 10 shy of my record-breaking total of 48 ID-ed calves in 2011.

Wow!

In my summary blog post for the 2011 season, I “forecast” (i.e., took a wild guess) and wrote that the number of babies this year might revert to the mean, and as a result, my calf count for 2012 might end up somewhere in the 20s. Well…so much for that bright idea.

It was pretty obvious relatively early on that we were on track for a very healthy number of babies. In previous blog posts this season, I mentioned that we were on track to meet or exceed the 2009 count (31 mother/ calf pairs), and that’s exactly what’s happened.

Breaching humpback whale calf (#38 of 2012 season, male)

Let that sink in for a moment.

The season isn’t over yet, and my calf count stands at 38 humpback whale calves. In light of the fact that just a few years ago, the common wisdom was that only a handful, perhaps six to eight, calves passed through Vava’u each season, this is absolutely amazing. (It also underscores the potential pitfalls of listening to common wisdom.)

The fact that the number of newborn humpback whales has remained high after a gangbuster year in 2011 is obviously a positive sign for the Megaptera population, one that we should all be thrilled about. Three cheers for a healthy humpback population!

Of course, I need to go through many thousands of photos with a fine-toothed comb after the season ends in order to reconfirm the IDs, but there is no doubt that the final tally will be significant.

It’s been about three weeks since I’ve posted a full summary, so I won’t attempt to discuss all the babies we’ve met in the interim, but here are a couple of noteworthy encounters:

Male humpback whale calf with mommy, #26 of the season

The first is calf #26, a male juvenile that was quite the mama’s boy. The mother/ calf pair were extraordinarily friendly and tolerant of our presence, but the calf stuck close to mommy all the time, never straying much beyond the adult’s pectoral perimeter.

And the photo below is of calf #30, a baby that was in the midst of an action-packed heat run that comprised the mother/ calf pair, a lead escort, and five additional hormone-fueled challengers. This also happened to be the first proper heat run I experienced this season, so it was doubly memorable.

As you may be able to discern from the photo, a heat run is not always the most relaxing of situations for mommy and baby:

Humpback whale calf #30 with mom in a heat run, escort trailing behind

Weather, Winds, Water, Windbags
The overall conditions this season have been good. The weather has been generally benign, ocean conditions mild, and winds mostly conducive to heading out to sea. There have, of course, been some challenging days, but so far, we haven’t lost much time to inclement conditions. (Murphy’s Law: The morning after I wrote this sentence, we were hit by prolonged rain.)

If I had to characterise, I’d say it’s been an unusually dry and warm season…as evidenced by signs such as the very early ripening of kapok tree seed pods, and many-a-mango-tree positively bursting with fruit.

Also of note…the water visibility has been excellent, which is entirely unlike the situation in 2011. Visibility has been positively outstanding in many areas (I could see the bottom in the channel in front of Swallow’s Cave a couple of days ago for instance!), and even in the south, where the water is almost always stirred up and murky, visibility has been better than average.

Of particular interest, there is relatively little stuff in the water of biological origin (i.e., pink fuzzy things), which fortunately equates to less backscatter and other bits to clean up when going through photos…always a welcome relief.

I’m not sure why this is the case, but I suspect there may be some correlation to the el Nino/ la Nina weather cycles…more on this subject when I wrap up with a final blog post at the end of the season.

In tandem with the generally favourable conditions, the whales have also been reasonably friendly. As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, there seems to be an overall “mood” to every season, with whales in the area exhibiting a communal disposition that can span the entire range from proactive and engaging to downright rude. This season’s mood seems to fall somewhere in the neighborhood of “mostly affable, with scattered frumpiness”, if that makes sense.

As far as whale numbers are concerned…there have been a few periods when the whales seemed to go “poof” and vanish into the aether, though they’ve always returned. Of interest…when this happened in mid-September, we checked with a friend in Ha’apai, and learned that the situation was similar there at the time as well.

No one knows what’s behind these periodic disappearances and reappearances of whales in the area, but if you consider this topic for a moment…it totally makes sense.

Humpbacks are social animals, and they gather here for social purposes. So it should come as no surprise that their movements are coordinated to some extent. If the whales didn’t have some sort of shared (and communicated) agenda, why would they even bother to congregate?

Periods when the whales seem to be scarce obviously suck for people who are here at the time hoping to see them, but there’s a word of caution I’d like to throw out in this context…drawing conclusions from just a few days is a bad thing to do.

Periods of scarcity, as well as periods of abundance, occur each season. So basically, without a long-term view (over each season and over multiple seasons), any conclusion one makes about the presence or absence of whales is at significant risk of being invalid. There is ample potential for statements made based on limited observation to be inconsistent with fact (i.e., to be total BS).

Here’s the kicker…even if you’ve been here over multiple seasons…you have to be paying attention in order even to have a hope of teasing out possible patterns, trends or other meaningful observations. Paying attention requires a lot of effort and work, which can be tedious, labor-intensive and even painful at times.

And here’s the kicker on top of the kicker…even if you are paying attention, it’s very, very easy to be misled by events and to make mistakes. I should know…I make them all the time!

Forgive my little rant, but I’ve only just learned a couple of days ago about an alleged expert going around the world telling people blatant lies about the situation here, based on her “expertise”, i.e., a few days on the water (but no time at all in the water). It’s impossible to stop people from “flapping their traps” (as my 10th grade history teacher used to admonish us students against), but permit me to underscore the importance of applying critical thought to broad, sweeping generalisations put forth by erstwhile experts who’ve spent very little time in the places and with the subjects about which they expound.

I’ve heard such people in the past (and the present) make sweeping (usually alarmist) generalisations about things like whales running away because of boats, about a seeming scarcity of whales being indicative of unhealthy whale populations, about personally “never having seen such few whales”, etc.

I cannot fathom what drives such people to stupidity, but if you come across anyone fitting this description, please take such silly talk with an appropriately humongous grain of salt and with your BS meter on full alert.

Humpback whale cruising along the ocean surface

Social Cetaceans
Heat runs are my favourite humpback whale activity to watch. I’ve seen several over the past few weeks, the most action-packed of which was on 17 September (see previous blog post).

In short, they involve a bunch of boisterous boy baleens competing for the attention of a female whale. There’s always a frenzy of activity, and the specific dynamics among the participants are always unique and fascinating.

There’s usually a male or two that seem to be dominant, while the others appear to be trying their luck. There’s a lot of pushing, shoving, grunting and groaning that takes place, and occasionally there’s blood that’s shed, though none of the cuts and bruises ever seem serious.

Sometimes the action revolves around a single female, and at other times, the activity centres upon a female that has a calf. Some females seem to enjoy the attention, while others…well, would probably prefer the boys amuse themselves elsewhere. Some females with calves even appear oblivious…I’ve seen mommies serenely feeding their babies while a manic Megaptera maelstrom rages around them!

But in any case…testosterone + hundreds of tonnes of humpback always = Woohoo! (or should that be Wuhoo?)

Female humpback whale and calf #33 in the midst of a heat run

Among my recent experiences though…one social interaction, which we witnessed on 28 September, stands out. It wasn’t a heat run.

This encounter involved three individuals, whales that were moving along at a steady pace…not too fast, not too slow…diving down, coming up, rubbing against one another, executing exquisite, almost balletic movements in the process.

At first glance, their actions and body language reeked of a competitive situation, one in which perhaps two males were vying for the attention of a female.

During this encounter, I saw something I haven’t witnessed before…a whale stroking its head/ rostrum area gently against the underside of another whale. This happened on at least three different occasions, though I was only able to photograph it once:

Male humpback whale nuzzling underside of another male.
Third male in the background.

In this particular instance, I saw the strokee emit a small cloud of dark liquid, right into the “face” of the stroker.

I’ve seen and photographed humpback whales pooping here before. The emission kinda looked like liquid-y poop, but there wasn’t a lot of it, and the situation sort of suggested that…well…perhaps defecation wouldn’t be the most appropriate or socially acceptable response. But who knows? There are, as I understand, humans who are in to that sort of thing (yuck).

In any case, it happened too quickly and too far away for me to get a photo of the small puff of liquid. There is, however, no doubt about what I saw.

But wait. It gets even more interesting.

Had it not been for a similar encounter I experienced two seasons ago, I may have just assumed that this situation was two males trying to impress a female, and let it go at that. I may have even interpreted the intimate interaction as a prelude to courtship and mating.

Back in 2010 though, I spent quite a bit of time swimming among three whales engaged in just about the same type of behaviour while exhibiting the same type of intimate interaction.

In that case…it turned out that all three whales were male. I dubbed them the Three Amigos.

The Three Amigos…three male humpback whales

With that lead-in, I suppose it won’t come as any surprise that the three whales I encountered a few days ago also turned out to be three boys…another trio of males associating in an exceptionally intimate and seemingly affectionate manner.

For continuity with the Three Amigos, I’ve dubbed this recent triplet the Three Musketeers. (If I come across this type of situation again, the next trio will be the Three Stooges!)

You might wonder how I knew that they were boys and not girls. Well at first I didn’t…but I swam and I swam and I swam until I was able to get photos of the undersides of every whale. This allowed me to confirm their sex beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The lesson here is that you can’t assume anything. Even if whales are engaging in what appears to be intimate behaviour, you must have photographic proof of their sex. Otherwise, you can’t be certain of what’s taking place.

Now…the Three Amigos and Three Musketeers obviously beg the question of what exactly was going on in those two instances. Why would three male humpbacks invest time and energy engaging in such behaviour?

I have no answer, and I’m not prepared to speculate at this stage, but it’s certainly intriguing, and something that I’ll keep an eye out for in the future.

The one thing I’m quite certain of, however, is that the dynamics of humpback whale society are much more complicated and nuanced than we know.

Three male humpback whales socialising…the Three Musketeers

More Megaptera Mystery
Speaking of cetacean conundrums…on 29 September, I came across what might have been a whale with a leak.

Yes…I know…that sounds preposterous, but let me explain.

Early in the morning, we came across a mother/ calf pair between Eueiki and Fua’amotu.

The visibility wasn’t great; the water was dark; the sea bottom was dark; the mom was deep; and she was mostly dark on top…so it would have been challenging (to say the least) to find the whales in the water…if not for the fact that the mom emitted a steady stream of bubbles, which allowed me to locate her with relative ease.

Humpback whales blow bubbles, so that’s nothing new. But this didn’t appear to be a conscious expelling of air. It was more akin to a leak.

At first, because the visibility wasn’t good, I thought the bubbles were coming from the sea bottom, sort of like what you see in areas with volcanic activity (PNG, Indonesia, Dominica, etc.), where gases escape from the ground and bubble into the sea. This worried me, because Tonga is adjacent to a trench, and there is certainly tectonic activity here. My gut reaction was…”Oh no! Do we have impending volcanic activity?!” I’m sure you can see why that might be a concern.

As I stared into the deep, dark, featureless water, I eventually saw a flash of white…the belly of the calf as it appeared from beneath its countershaded mother. It was only then that I realised that the bubble stream was coming from the adult whale, not from the sea floor.

I’ve never come across this before.

We did several drops with this mother/ calf pair (calf #38, a boy), so I eventually got a good look at the “leak” and was able to document it.

Mother of calf #38, streaming air bubbles from her blowhole

I don’t know if the bubble stream was actually coming from a leak per se, but I can’t think of any logical reason why a whale would intentionally let perfectly good air escape in a steady, non-stop stream. She did this on every dive (5-6 drops) except the final time we got into the water with her.

The fact that she didn’t emit any bubbles on the last drop suggests that she may have had conscious control over whatever was causing the bubble stream, but then again…if that were the case, why emit the bubbles at all? Hmmmmm.

The only plausible/ possible explanation I’ve been able to come up with so far is that perhaps she was sleeping/ resting during the initial drops, and while she was in that state, she may have involuntarily relaxed motor control over the muscles that hold her blowholes shut…sort of like how you drool when you nod off (Yes you do…everyone does it.).

During our final drop with her, perhaps she was fully awake and therefore exercising full motor control over her blowholes.

It’s a mystery, but that’s my best guess for the time being.

If you can think of a better explanation, please let me know.

Anyway, the pair ended up putting on a spectacular tail-slap/ breaching display for us; mom and baby playing together and celebrating life is always a terrific spectacle.

So…that’s nowhere near everything that’s happened over the past few weeks, but the anecdotes above convey the gist of some of the more interesting experiences I’ve had.

I’ll wrap up this post with a thought shared with me by Tom Perkins. I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with him recently, and I have come to admire, respect and hold Tom in the highest regard. There are few people I have encountered who are so positive and inspiring.

During a late afternoon chat about life, the universe and everything, he planted the following thought in my head, one that I believe worth remembering and sharing:

Q: What is the cure for boredom?
A: Curiosity.

Q: And what is the cure for curiosity?
A: There is none.

Thank you Tom.

Breaching humpback whale, mother of calf #38

PS: We’re up to 17 White Pecs now!

Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 1
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 2
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 3
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 4

We’ve identified seven more humpback whale mother/ calf pairs this week, bringing the current tally to a total of 24.

Humpback whale calf #19, the first confirmed male I have this season

At this same date in previous seasons, we were at 33 ID-ed baby humpback whales in 2011, 16 in 2010, 26 in 2009, and 15 in 2008.

To help put this in context, the figure below is a graphical representation of the calf count tallies from the past four seasons, with the X-axis representing time starting on 1 August and continuing through 30 October, and the Y-axis representing the number of ID-ed mother/ calf pairs:

Humpback whale calf counts, Tonga 2008-2011

It’s important to bear in mind that these figures aren’t directly comparable, as I have different start dates each season, as well as a different number of boats and people helping each year. At the end of the season, I calculate a mother/ calf pair count per boat day figure, which helps make the calf count figures somewhat more of an apples-to-apples comparison.

On a subjective basis over the long term though, the total calf count figures for each season do seem to provide an accurate reflection of both the “mood” of each year, and also the total number of whales and babies we encounter in a particular year.

As you may have discerned from the graph above, we’re on track for a similar quantity and slope of sightings as in 2009. Subjectively, we have a similar mood this season among the whale encounters as in 2009, though obviously no two seasons are exactly alike.

Humpback whale calf #21 of the season, a healthy, happy baby boy

Poker Pairs
I have a lot of miscellaneous stuff to attend to this weekend, so I’m not going to write too much more about the baby whales we’ve seen. Just one quick anecdote…about an experience that was both incredibly exciting, and a total, utter bummer.

On 5 September, I saw for the first time ever, two mother/ calf pairs socialising together.

In Poker terms, two moms and babies might appear at face value to be a hand with two pairs. In humpback whale terms, it’s more like getting a royal straight flush on the first deal.

There was one occasion in the past when I saw two mother/ calf pairs come in close proximity, when I thought they may have associated for some time…but I wasn’t able to get into the water back then, so I didn’t see exactly what, if anything, happened.

In this case, I was in the water, and I unequivocally saw the two moms and babies together, swimming in sync, with the moms rolling over, one repeatedly lifting her pectoral fin in the air, and the babies happily playing alongside their mothers (though not with one another). There was perhaps three to four metres between the two adult female humpbacks. People who were on the boat confirmed seeing the same thing. (The two mom/ calf pairs involved were calf #20 and our second encounter with calf #12.)

The bummer part…and this is an extreme bummer for me…is that the visibility was poor(!!!), the whales were some distance ahead and swimming away from me (so I was huffing and puffing to keep up), and the skies were overcast (so light levels were low)…all meaning that although the two females and babies stayed together for somewhere between five and ten minutes, I was unable to get any photos.

When I finally gave up and got out of the water, I was simultaneously overjoyed and depressed…exuberant because I’d seen something that doesn’t happen often (in fact, I wasn’t sure it happened at all until 5 September), but disheartened because I wasn’t able to document it.

So naturally, I ate three extra-large portions of (delicious…Thank you Kirsty) lasagna for lunch to compensate. Karma was thus restored.

Anyway, for the record, here’s what it looked like:

Artist’s(?) rendition of two humpback whale
mother/ calf pairs playing together in Tonga

Whale Song
I’ll write and post more later, but for now, here is an audio clip extracted from a video file that my friend Serene took of a singer. This is the song I referred to in my update last week.

Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 1
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 2
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 3

Wow. What an eventful week it’s been.

We’ve seen humpback whales singing, breaching, and even hooking up with members of the opposite sex. And we’re up to 17 ID-ed humpback whale babies now. Hurray!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Consistent with the trend I highlighted in my previous update, every humpback whale calf that I’ve been able to sex with certainty over the past few days has been female.

Out of five new calf IDs this past week, two are definitely female, two indeterminate, and one possibly male (i.e., I think it’s male, but I didn’t manage to get a proof-positive photo.)

On top of this, there was another calf that Ma’ata managed to photograph a couple of times (but I’m not able to ID yet) that is definitely female. I’m waiting for additional photos from other people who were on that boat, in hopes that I can ID this calf in the near future as well.

In any event, of the 17 calves I’ve assigned IDs to so far this season, six are definitely female. Of the remaining 11, I think three more are possibly female, while one might be male. For the others, I don’t have enough photos to make an assessment.

Ever since I started keeping track of calf sex in 2009, I’ve recorded more females than males. I’m not sure what this means, but day-by-day, calf-by-calf, my belief that there is some significance behind this observation is growing. As interested as I am in the absolute number of newborn humpback whales here each season, this female-to-male sex ratio intrigues me even more.

If there really is a greater proportion of females than males among baby whales, what would cause this, and what purpose would this serve?

Female humpback calf 201217 with mommy

Love Me Two Times
In addition to the newly ID-ed calves, we had our first re-sighting for the season, female calf 201210 on 30 August. I first photographed this baby on 21 August.

As a photographer, my original purpose in traveling to Tonga was to create beautiful, inspiring images of the humpback whales that visit these waters each year. But being able to enter the water and observe whales directly affords me another opportunity…the chance to glean some insight into the lives of humpback whales.

Over the years, this has become as important to me, if not more so, than taking pictures. By the end of this season, I will have spent nearly 18 months of my life on and in the water here with the whales, probably more than any other person ever has. Over that time, I’ve seen and learned a lot, and each season, I look forward to recording everything I see and experience, then piecing together all the parts of the puzzle to try to figure out what the whales are doing.

Humpback whale calf 201210…female, like most of the others so far this season

Calf 201010 and her mom are a perfect example.

After my first encounter with this mother/ calf pair, this is what I recorded:

“Female, calf, escort. Escort laid back. Mom somewhat wary, but not too bad. Calf very inquisitive and friendly, approaching swimmers multiple times.”

After a couple of swims, we left the whales in the care of another boat with some of my friends aboard. Shortly thereafter, the trio started to move, and the escort commenced singing. Four other males appeared, turning the situation into a heat run and making it impossible to keep up with the whales, much less enter the water.

Fast-forward nine days.

On the morning of 30 August, I spotted a trio of whales (mother, calf, escort) moving at high speed just south of the main islands of Vava’u, with another whale giving chase several hundred metres behind. We watched as the trailing whale joined the leading trio, resulting a spectacular display by the escort…grunting, crocodiling, snorting…dispatching the would-be challenger in short order with fluke tucked under his tail.

The three whales bounced around for a while, clearly worked up to some extent by the intrusion, eventually calming down enough that it looked as if we might have a chance to take a peek underwater.

Just as we were getting ready…another male appeared from nowhere. The boys went at it again, sending all the whales off at high speed in random directions, until the escort once again prevailed and sent the newcomer packing.

Once that was settled, the whales did eventually calm down, and we were able to get in and take a good look.

So putting all that together:

1. Calf 201210 and mom probably stayed in the Vava’u area between 21 to 30 August.
2. Mommy whale seems to be attractive, given that she merited the attention of at least seven male whales through two encounters.
3. The calf was highly inquisitive and friendly in both encounters. Mommy was neutral at best in both encounters. In other words, their dispositions/ personalities remained consistent through the two encounters separated by nine days.
4. Perhaps most interesting…Mommy whale switched allegiances during the 9-day period. The escort that was with her on 30 August was not the same one that was with her on 21 August. I didn’t get a great look at the earlier escort, but the one on 30 August was a monster of a male. He was gigantic, both in length and girth, which may help explain how he got rid of the two challengers so quickly.

Huh…maybe size does matter after all.

Second time around with humpback whale calf 201210 and mother

The Song Remains the Same
Those weren’t the only interesting observations though.

Just like the escort on 21 August, the big boy on 30 August started to sing after all the commotion had settled and the three whales stopped to rest: Escort the deepest, mommy above, and calf the most shallow…a typical configuration.

I’ve mentioned in seasons past that the humpbacks here sing in many situations (e.g. with mom/ calf, during heat runs, while swimming, while sitting horizontal, while hanging out with another whale, etc.), not just when they’re hanging head-down in the classic singer pose. This situation (and the singing escort with calf 201210) provided a perfect opportunity for me to share this information first-hand with my friends who are here with me now.

Floating not 15 metres above the whales, we watched as the calf nuzzled mommy, and escort belted out his best rendition of this season’s Megaptera melody.

Humpback whales make lots of sounds, so hearing a humpback vocalise doesn’t guarantee that you’ve heard THE song for the season. I’ve heard humpbacks vocalising for extended periods in a song-like manner, with a tune that wasn’t the actual song. In fact, my friend Dr. John Potter and I recorded a singer doing precisely this a couple of seasons ago, transitioning mid-melody into the actual song for that year.

But…in this case I’m 100% positive the escort was singing THE song, because later that day, we found a lone singer, courtesy of a pair of breaching/ playing whales that led us on a whirlwind tour for a while, then ditched us like yesterday’s news.

Breaching humpback whale in Tonga

We were in an area of horrendous visibility, with overcast skies, and the singer was deep (at least 30m down at the fluke), hanging in the classic head-down pose.

I took it as a personal challenge to find him, and fortunately managed to track him through three breath cycles over the period of 45 minutes or so. That gave me the opportunity to listen to the song over and over again. A couple of friends also recorded the audio on their cameras, so we were able to confirm later that the song was the same as the one the escort with calf 201210 performed.

Out of interest, this year’s song is characterised by a lot of scratchiness. The best I can describe it…is that parts of the tune sound almost as if the notes were being played on a badly out-of-tune squeaky violin.

I may be able to extract audio from my friends’ recordings and post it later. Posting large files is too much of a challenge right now, given limited and sporadic internet access. I can say that I don’t recall ever hearing so much scratchiness though. Also…the big booming bass is back, after not being so prominent in the song last year.

Humpback whale singer, Tonga

Waiting For A Girl Like You
We also watched “The Making Of A Calf”, so to speak this week, coming across at least one male/ female pair engaged in courtship.

I say at least one pair because I’m reasonably confident that the breaching whales that led us to the singer I highlighted above were also a courting couple (based on observing their behaviour), but I didn’t have an opportunity to get into the water and confirm by looking under their skirts, so I can’t be 100% certain.

In the case of the second pair, I am completely certain, as I had plenty of opportunity to observe them in clear water. Here’s a quick rundown of how things played out:

• Drop 1: The whales approached the boat of their own accord, swam slowly by, taking a good look at the boat and us, then kept going.
• Drop 2: The whale passed by once more. I swam along. When the whales were 15-20m ahead of me, the female did a 180 and turned back toward me, followed by the male. They swam straight for me, turned sideways when they were several metres away, stopped to look, then slowly swam away. The whales proactively checked me out.

Pair of humpback whales turning to check me out

• Drop 3: The whales were traveling at speed. I dropped in, saw them change heading. I altered my course to meet them. As the whales appeared out of the blue haze, the female approached, looked at me, slowly turned sideways while descending to about 15m depth, blocking the male’s path. Then the whales came to a dead stop. They hung in the water, resting, looking at us for at least 15 minutes.
• Drop 4: The whales proactively approached people in the water…observing, circling, demonstrating what I can only describe as curiosity, perhaps even fascination.

While all this was happening, I was able to confirm visually that there was one male and one female. The inquisitive/ proactive nature of the whales was also consistent with past interactions I’ve had with male/ female pairs.

And finally, I now have a high degree of confidence in being able to confirm visually when a female humpback whale is ready to mate. In every case where I’ve encountered a female whale in a male/ female pair configuration or in a heat run, the female’s genital area has been discoloured and appears swollen/ engorged…as was the case once again in this experience.

Given the existence of outward signs of sexual receptivity in other mammals, I think it’s reasonable to propose that such discolouration + swelling is an indication of a female humpback whale’s readiness to mate. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for this in future encounters, but the first time I noticed this was in 2005, so I’m confident enough to state this publicly now.

We left the whales alone after our 4th drop. As we set off, I joked that I might be the world’s only whale wedding photographer, given that the pair were most likely on their way to consummating their nuptials:

Female and male humpback whale engaged in courtship, Tonga

Shiny Happy People
This week saw a few comings and going.

My friends Jon, Bryn, Jack, Julian, Ildi, Ai Lin and TK wrapped up their stay and headed out. Jon, Bryn and Jack have moved to Ha’apai and will be there for another week. They’ve already had some good encounters, and I hope they’ll have many more during their stay. I’m counting on them to send me some calf photos for the calf count (hint, hint guys!)

Who knows? Maybe one of the babies from here will show up there, or vice versa.

Ildi, Julian, me, Jack, Bryn, Jon, TK, Ai Lin and Emi

In their place, Serene, May, George, Debbie, Beverley and Karl arrived on Wednesday…just in time for the re-sighting of calf 201210, a crazy breach-fest, and the singers.

How fortunate I am to have such amazing people choose to travel with me. I am by nature a very private person, and I don’t suffer fools (such an understatement), so the fact that I have tremendously enjoyed the company of every single person I’ve had the privilege of sharing these experiences with really says a lot.

May, Serene, Emi, George, Debbie, Beverley, Karl at Mounu Island Resort

Being able to narrate what we see in real time and to recap the significance of our experiences during dinner conversation gives me great pleasure, and also affords me the opportunity to consolidate my own thoughts and conjectures. Thank you all.

Enough sappiness.

Both the weather and the mood of the whales has continued to be generally cooperative, so hopefully the week ahead will bring more exciting encounters and interesting insights into the behaviour of the whales.

Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 1
Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 2

The past week has been a good one. The weather has been mostly cooperative, with a predominance of sunshine, only one day that was overcast and drizzly. We photographed and identified three new humpback whale mother/ calf pairs…bringing the total count for the season to 12 pairs. And we photographed a bunch of breaching, including White Pec #7 for the season.

Motherly love: Humpback whale female with 12th ID-ed calf of the season

Humpback Whale Calf Count
My annual count of humpback whale mother/ calf pairs in the Vava’u area reached 12 this week, with three new babies added to the list.

For comparison, the count last year by this same date was 19 ID-ed calves. 2011 was, however, an extraordinary season, with a bumper crop of 48 ID-ed babies in all, so 12 isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination.

To put this in context, the ID-ed mother/ calf pair counts by this date in 2008, 2009, and 2010 were 4, 10 and 10.

It’s important to keep in mind that these figures don’t represent an apples-to-apples (or is that whales-to-whales?) comparison. I didn’t start the counts on the same day each season, and I don’t have the same number of boats helping each season.

At the end of each season, when I have all the data, I try to normalise the calf count with a figure I calculate by dividing the total baby tally by the total number of boat days spent at sea looking for them.

Though this is still not a perfect measure, it is perhaps a better standard by which to compare each season. I obviously won’t have this figure until after this season is wrapped up, but for reference, the figures were 0.44, 0.27 and 0.59 in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.

These ratios give a much better indication of frequency (or rarity) of encounters with mother/ calf pairs.

One other interesting observation during the week…all three baby whales ID-ed this week were females.

Calf #12 (female) playing at the surface,
with close-up showing developing mammary glands.

The apparent abundance of female calves is consistent with my observations from past seasons, with the female-to-male ratio among calves being 1.56, 1.75, 1.30 in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively, i.e., more female than male babies each season. Of course, since I can’t determine the sex of every calf, these figures are just indicative

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the apparent prevalence of female over male babies could be due to any number of factors: There could actually be more female calves than male babies; it’s possible that mother/ calf pairs with females tend to be more accommodating toward interactions with people; or…it could just be sheer coincidence. Who knows?

If this year’s calf count once again follows this trend though, my confidence in this tendency will certainly increase.

For more background on my annual calf count + observations and speculations, see my humpback whale calf count PDF file from last year.

White Pec #7
Yesterday, we saw our 7th white pec for this season!

It was one of several whales breaching, slapping and generally having a good time southeast of the Fatumanga area. Having to choose among whales is a good predicament to have, but we stuck with a particular pair because they seemed to enjoy showing off (approaching the boat and breaching all around us), and also because of the white pec. I really wanted to get a good photo of this particular whale, which fortunately was the one that seemed to breach the most.

As I mentioned in my first update, there seems to be a concentration of whales with all-white pectoral fins this season. All-white pecs are relatively more common in the northern hemisphere than among the humpback whales in the south, so it’s pretty easy to pick them out from the crowd, so to speak.

Once again, this is just continued speculation on my part, but the fact that there appears to be a cluster of this obvious phenotypical trait this season suggests to me that there could be an underlying genetic closeness among a subset of the whales in the Vava’u area right now. In other words, I’m wondering whether some of the whales here might be closely related to one another, given the appearance of this trait among so many whales.

The last time this trait appeared with such a relatively high frequency was 2006. And in other seasons, other obvious physical traits (ones different from all-white pec fins) have appeared in similar clusters.

I’ve read some papers suggesting that humpback whales do not travel in related groups as many toothed whales are known to do. But this then begs the question – Why would a concentration of whales with all-white pectoral fins show up in 2006 and 2012, but not in intervening or preceding seasons?

7th humpback whale of the season with all-white pectoral fins

Behaviour
A couple of seasons ago in 2010, I characterised the “mood” of the whales that year as “unsettled”. Most of the experienced people I spoke with here at the time concurred that the whales seemed somewhat on edge, relatively difficult to approach. Last year was different, with lots of whales around, and “normal” interactions, if I had to pick one adjective.

It’s still early in my stay here for the 2012 season, but to date, it seems like the whales are behaving in the “normal” to “friendly” range. We did have a few mother/ calf pairs yesterday that were not particularly cooperative, but that is the case every season. We just leave those alone.

Most of our interactions so far have been with extremely accepting whales.

Of interest to me, this overall “mood” (for lack of a better word) is consistent with my experience in 2006, the last time there were a number of whales with all-white pectoral fins around.

Once again, this could be pure coincidence, but it’s another data point in my ongoing observation of humpback whale behaviour in this area. Something else to ponder.

Calf #9 of the 2012 season, a friendly little girl

Humpback Whales in Tonga | Part 1

My first update from Tonga for this season is going to be short. I’ve only gone out on the water for one day, but it was an eventful one.

I arrived at Mounu Island Resort on 16 August, settled in, set up and tested my gear on the 17th, and went out to sea yesterday with my friends Douglas Seifert, Howard and Michele Hall, and Jerry Allen.

Me with Jerry, Douglas, Michele and Howard

The weather was so-so, mostly overcast with drizzles every now and then, but we were fortunate enough to come across a group of five humpback whales within short order. They weren’t in any particular hurry, but the whales also weren’t overly friendly, so we only saw them a few times underwater.

The whales passed mostly at depth, but I managed to get all five in a single frame…not bad for one of the first photos I’ve taken with my new Canon 5D Mark III camera and Zillion housing.

Five humpback whales traveling together

Of particular note, there seems to be an abundance of whales with all-white pectoral fins this season (like the left-most whale in the above photo). The last time I recall seeing a large number of humpback whales with this trait visiting Vava’u was in 2006. In most seasons, I’ve seen very few, if any at all.

Most people probably wouldn’t get excited by something like this, but I’ve been tracking unique physical traits among the humpback whales that visit this part of Tonga for some time now, and the reappearance of a significant number of whales with white pectoral fins could be important.

In many seasons, there seems to be some obvious physical trait that a critical number of whales share. White pectoral fins is one example. All-black bodies, as well as split dorsal fins, are two more I’ve been on the lookout for.

I have a hunch that these shared outward physical traits are signs of genetic proximity. In other words, if a number of whales share a common physical trait, they might be relatively closely related…and they may coordinate their movements to some degree.

It’s tough to prove this without collecting DNA, but the fact that certain traits appear in greater-than-average quantities in certain years (but not in most years) is certainly suggestive of some sort of link.

I’ve rambled about this in updates in previous years, so on the off chance you’re interested in reading more, take a look in my blog archives for posts during August and September from past seasons.

So far this season, Ma’ata, who works at Mounu Island Resort, has photographed two mother/ calf pairs with all-white pectoral fins. The one in the photo above makes five individuals with this trait. And as if to hammer the point home, the next whale I photographed a few hours later was also one with white pectoral fins.

This is the sixth humpback whale with white pectoral fins this season.

So that makes six whales with all-white pectoral fins this season, and we’re just getting started! It’ll be interesting to see if we come across more as time goes on. In fact, it’ll be interesting even if we don’t see any more.

Speaking of mother/ calf pairs, Ma’ata has been photographing calves to contribute to my annual mother/ calf count, and we went through her photos this morning. So far, I can ID eight mother/ calf pairs from her photos…which is totally awesome.

By this time last year, we had 11 calves identified, so we’re not far behind. And I haven’t even spent any appreciable time in the water yet!

This season, I arrived in Tonga a couple weeks later than I normally do (I was in Alaska playing with northern humpbacks), so I was worried about falling behind in the count. Thanks to Ma’ata’s efforts though, the calf count is on schedule.

Request for help…If you are visiting Tonga this season, and you photograph any mother/ calf pairs, please save the photos for me, and please make a note of the date and location. I will compile all the data I receive into a file and publish the file for everyone to share, as I’ve done in previous years. Photos that are of most use are ones that clearly show physical traits of the mother and/ or calf…side-on views of the adult to see the body patterns; photos that show the shape of the dorsal fins; clear shots of flukes; photos of the underside of calves…to help determine the sex of each calf.

Our count for the 2011 humpback whale season in Vava’u was 48 humpback whale mother/ calf pairs…a record number that blew away all expectations! (and also made for a heckuva lot of work after I got home).

To wrap up, here is a photo of the whale that was accompanying the one with the white pectoral fins above. The pair were nice enough to slow down and stop for a break, giving us an opportunity to spend some quality time with them.

Resting humpback whale

My friend Jon Cornforth will be arriving tomorrow, for the continuation of our Megaptera Mania! dual-hemisphere humpback whale trip. The weather forecast looks good, so I can’t wait to take my friends out to look for more whales.