Sep 16, 2014
Whale Song was neatly tucked inside the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago beside Lord Byron Island during several overnight visits on our recent expedition into the Kimberley. Looking at this beach takes me back almost 20 years. On occasion, I brought Micah, our boat baby, ashore here for brief but enjoyable morning or afternoon “expeditions”. Beautiful memories…
‘Flukes left!’ Curt called, as one by one these boisterous males lifted their flukes at the end of their 2 minute long surfacing. This humpback whale has unique fingerprint-like black and white pigmentation on the underside of its’ tail flukes, including the shape and black markings around the central notch, the shape and black colouration along the scalloped trailing edge of the flukes and the black blotches on the central column. New scratches, shown as faint red lines on the white parts of the fluke, likely were received during the lively altercations witnessed that day. Razor-sharp barnacles on the tips of flukes, leading edges of pectoral fins and underneath their chins on the jaw plate could well have contributed to these fresh wounds. Male humpback whales battle many times during the breeding season for mating opportunities with a female, whom they may accompany for only 2 hours or 2 days! It’s a tough life!
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