Whale Watching August 2022 Norfolk Island

This month, there has been multi sightings of Humpback Whales as they have migrated past Norfolk Island to their summer feeding grounds in the Southern Oceans.

Last weekend on Sunday afternoon at around 2pm the whales were reported out between Nepean Island and Philip Island, on 21 August 2022. I drove to Queen Elizabeth II lookout at watched the whales as they surfaced and splashed in the bay for another half and hour or so. It was exciting to watch them, and I managed to capture some photos of the whales, though they were a few kilometres out to sea, it was still fantastic to record the whales and share the images on Facebook and here with the Norfolk Online News readers.

I did notice a boat on the water, which briefly stopped in the area. These fishermen shared a video of the whales on Facebook and said they watched an adult with a calf. This information was great as I could not see those details from the Kingston lookout view. The whales were not moving very fast, which is also another way of identifying they are travelling with their calves or young whales.

The Humpback whales are known to travel in pods, and I wonder how many whales migrate past Norfolk Island shores each year. On Sunday were also some whales spotted of Captain Cook Reserve and whales seen spouting spray out in Cemetery Bay early afternoon on Tuesday 23 August 2022.

If you do see any whales take note of WHAT, WHERE & WHEN. Record the time and where the whales are sighted and the direction they are travelling. These records of the whale sightings can be recorded for the Norfolk Island Fauna and Flora Society and for annual whale surveys. It is always exciting to see the whales when they are passing Norfolk Island and I always hope to capture them on my camera.

This is the time of year the whale’s migration return from the tropical breeding grounds on their journey to the southern waters and Antarctica for the summer months. The whales travel the Norfolk Island waters, their journey also takes them along the migratory Pacific Ocean corridors passing New Zealand, Australia, and New Caledonia coast lines.

I have learnt that when the whales travel to Antarctica in the spring, they travel slowly because they have young calves on their first journey to the southern waters. On the onset of winter, the whales migrate north, and they travel at a steady speed.

The most common whale viewed from Norfolk Island is the “Humpback” whales. But other whales are also viewed such as “Minke” whales as well as the “Blainville's Beaked” whales.

It is always exciting to see the whales from clifftops, but if you get the opportunity, another way to sight the migrating whales, is from the local fishing boats or the Norfolk Island charter boats, which regularly spend time fishing the Norfolk Island coastal areas.

Here are a couple of images of the whales I watched out to sea near Nepean and Philip Islands on Sunday 21 August 2022. Thank you everyone who report the whales that are spotted as they migrate passed Norfolk Island

Happy Whale Watching everyone!

https://iwc.int/smallcetacean

https://norfolkislandwhalesurvey.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Norfolk-Island-Whale-Survey-148724795167684/?fref=ts

Betty Matthews

August 2022