Humpback Whales Return to Maui

A Humpback whale calf breaches, seemingly jumping just for the sheer enjoyment. (19 Jan 2014)
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

I always look forward to this time of the year. No… I don’t mean Christmas or Chanukah: like many Kama’aina (long-time island residents), I celebrate the return of the North Pacific population of Humpback Whales to the warm coastal waters of Hawaii; more specifically, the shallows of Maui’s Ma’alaea Bay.

Following its mother’s example, a newborn Humpback calf gamely performs a more subdued breach as it’s mother splashes back into the water after performing her own breach. (19 Jan 2014)
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The bay is the heart of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, which includes the shallow channel waters between Maui and the neighbor islands of Lana’i, Molokini and Kaho’olawe.

Because I live on a beach fronting the bay, I see and hear the “Humpies” day and night from mid-December until early May when the last stragglers head back to their feeding grounds in the colder nutrient-rich waters off Alaska, Russia and northern Japan. Each November I wait for reports of the first whale sitings in Maui’s waters, after which I book a season pass on a local whale boat, and wait impatiently for the first morning run in late December.

The flukes of a young Humpback whale disappear gracefully beneath the surface as it prepares for a deep flukes-up dive.
(19 Jan 2014)
Click on image to see a larger version.)

With my camera and gear snug in my backpack, I’m one of the first to board the whale boat, scrambling up the ladder to the flying bridge to claim my favorite spot: well out on the starboard rail, the best place for spotting a “blow” or a “breach” from a distance. I prefer the steeper angle on the water this perch affords because, whether the subject is close-in to the boat or at a distance, I get a good shooting angle looking down onto the subject.

As the captain and crew prepare to get under way, it’s time to get serious about the “shoot.” I carefully remove the dust cap from my reliable old Canon 40D, do likewise with the heavy tan-colored tube of the “L” series 300 mm zoom/telephoto lens, and quickly twist the two into one another with a satisfying “snap” of the 40D’s bayonet mount. As the boat’s engines rev on leaving its slip, I load the 16 GB memory card into its dedicated port on the camera body, set the lens’ image stabilizer, remove the lens’ dust cap, ensure that the UV filter is clean and screwed on snugly, and then check to see that the camera is safely secured to my shoulder harness.

A pair of males tussle with one another to win the attention of a receptive female (rolled over onto her side at left, her pectoral fin and a fluke exposed at the surface) as a tour boat passes by, careful to stay outside the 100-yard approach radius mandated by law.
(18 Jan 2014)  (Click on image to view a larger version.)

For me, “The Whale Season” usually starts the last week of December: even though the first humpies are sighted in mid-October, we don’t begin to see them in significant numbers in Ma’alaea Bay until well after Christmas Day. I usually do twenty boat trips a season, saturdays and sundays until the middle of March, when the number of whales in the bay drops steadily  until early May when the last whales leave for Alaskan waters.

Two members of a raucous, surface-active competition pod dive and chase madly after one another and the receptive female whose presence instigated the battle. (29 Dec 2013)
(To see a larger version, click on image.)

The first three trips were nothing special: I photographed a couple of uninteresting cow-and-calf pairs and some “blows” several hundred meters from the boat. But the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh trips in January were great and hinted of better “shoots” to come. Here’s a few of the best shots from this season’s trips so far.

A mature Humpback warily passes close by my boat; its huge pectoral fins are the turquoise-colored underwater shadow seen just below and to the side of the whale. (29 Dec 2013)
(To see a larger version, click on image.)

A mature Humpback produces a loud trumpeting exhalation in combination with a plume of atomized seawater as it passes close by my whale boat. (29 Dec 2013)
(To see a larger version, click on the image.)

A lone Humpback whale “spy-hopping.” (18 Jan 2014)
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The photo above is interesting because Humpback whales usually don’t display this behavior in Hawaiian waters. It is usually associated with feeding and seen more commonly in frigid waters of the Alaskan feeding grounds.

A mature Humpback closes to within a few meters of my boat; on its back is a prominent scar, probably received during the struggles involved in a competition pod. (29 Dec 2013)
(To see a larger version, click on image.)

A newborn Humpback whale calf gamely attempts a few clumsy breaches as its mother cruises along just behind it, keeping a watchful eye on her rapidly-developing child. (19 Jan 2014)
(To view a larger version, click on image.)

A young Humpback calf, probably born a few weeks previous, performs a series of progressively more skillful breaches. Its mother trails behind, at right, just out of the picture. (19 Jan 2014)
(To see a larger version, click on image.)

A rare “double breach” performed by a cow and calf; mothers of newborn whales are often seen performing this and other behavior with their newborns, apparently teaching them to do “whale stuff.”
(19 Jan 2014)  (To see a larger version, click on image.)

Following its mother’s example, a newborn calf gamely performs a more subdued breach as it’s mother crashes back into the water after performing her own breach. (19 Jan 2014)
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

A cow and calf pair. The mother is gently carrying her newborn on her rostrum (the protruding upper jaw). Young calves have relatively small lung capacity and so mothers must ensure they stay near the surface to make it easier for them to reach the surface for a breath. (11 Jan 2014) (Click on image to see a larger version.)

19 January 2014: A GREAT day for breaches!
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Check out the next blog post as “whale-watching season” moves into February, the busiest time of the migration.

Competition Pods: Maui’s Humpback Whales Play Rough

AS I WRITE THESE WORDS, several thousand Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae, meaning “large-winged New Englander” in Latin) have already begun the two-month journey from the cold waters of their feeding grounds off the respective coasts of southern Alaska, Siberia, and western Canada to Hawaii’s warmer waters.

Competition pods like this one become very active in Ma’alaea Bay, at the height of the migration (January-February).
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

Some of the mature females are carrying an extra load: the unborn calves conceived in Hawaiian waters during their last southern migration. Other females are about to come into heat and are thinking wistfully of the hot Hawaiian sex to be had off the southern coast of Maui.

The crew of this sailboat anchored just offshore from Kihei on Ma’alaea Bay suddenly found themselves surrounded by eight angrily blowing whales of a surface-active competition pod.
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

After all, the water-cooler buzz in the whale world has it that Maui na oka oi (“Maui is Best”). Come late November/early December, the first pods of birth mothers, hot whale babes and stoked whale dudes will make the beach scene in and around Maui’s Ma’alaea Bay, the heart of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. When the “dating action” seriously heats up in the peak months of the migration (January and February), the dominant male Humpbacks vie for the attentions of females in estrus, and COMPETITION PODS begin to roil the already wind-whipped waters of the bay and the channel waters.

What IS a Competition Pod?

Simply put, a Competition Pod is a group of surface-active whales that consists of a single sexually receptive female actively being pursued by a group of males. Competition among the males for the female involves several intense, often violent behaviors as each male tries to gain the position closest to her,  to become the “primary escort.” The number of whales in a “comp pod” ranges from as few as three to as many as 25, with 10 to 12 whales being a more typical pod size. Individual males may join and leave the pod during its short duration, which is usually no more than a few hours. I’ve seen comp pods start off with three or four whales, then suddenly grow to more than 15 whales in a matter of minutes as the commotion attracts individual “joiners” who may be thousands of meters away. Unlike the other types of social behaviors exhibited by Humpbacks, the swiftly moving competition pods never stay in one place for very long, often traveling several miles before dissipating. After a good deal of thrashing about, bumping of heads, jostling, shoving, charging and counter-charging among the male combatants, the competition ends when the primary escort either is displaced by another more dominant male or manages to maintain his position, whereupon the pod breaks up.

A lone Humpback charges past my boat in a hurry to join a nearby competition pod.(Click on image to see a larger version.) 

 

Types of Aggressive Behavior Seen in Competition Pods

The Peduncle Throw or Slap — In this extremely aggressive behavior, the entire rear portion of the body (including the “caudal peduncle” and the flukes) is lifted out of the water and brought down sideways, sharply striking the surface of the water or another whale.

A “primary escort” male whale lets loose with a very loud peduncle slap to ward off a competing male suitor.
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

One male in a particularly violent 12-whale comp pod off Kaho’olawe Island administers one of several hard peduncle slaps to a competitor.
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

Head Lunge & Inflated Head Lunge — In this behavior, the head is lifted above the surface of the water at about a 45-degree angle as the whale puts on a brief burst of speed. Occasionally a whale performing a head lunge will simultaneously inflate its mouth cavity (expanding its “ventral pleats” or throat grooves) by filling it with hundreds of gallons of water. Both of these tactics may be employed while slamming broadside into another whale, as shown below.

A member of a comp pod lends emphasis to its head lunge by slamming broadside into another male.
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A fast-moving male slams into an oncoming swell after completing an inflated head lunge. Note how the lower jaw is distended, stretching the ventral pleats (throat grooves).
(Click on image to see a larger version.)

Jaw Clapping — A whale may signal its stress and/or anger by violently snapping its lower jaw against it upper jaw. In competition pods, individuals may follow an aggressive head-lunge with repeated jaw-clapping.

The male in the middle of this photo has just performed a head lunge and follows up his threat display by jaw-clapping.
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Lots of Pushing and Shoving Behavior…

Two male participants in a high-speed comp pod do their best to push and shove to get next to Big Mama, the larger whale in the background.
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…as well as Copious Splashing and Blowing Behavior…

“GOTCHA!!!” “Did NOT! I got YOU first!”
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“Thar she… uh, sorry… THEY blows!!!”
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As a photographer devoted to the “Humpies” of Ma’alaea Bay, I truly LOVE shooting the whales in competition pods because…

Members of a large competition pod put on a show just off the breakwater of Ma’alaea Yacht Harbor.
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… they are SUCH EXHIBITIONISTS when they’re horny!

About these photos — All of the images herein were shot during my whale-watching cruises with the Pacific Whale Foundation that sails out of Ma’alaea Harbor on the Island of Maui. Each year I go on about 40 cruises in the waters of Ma’alaea Bay and the Kealaikahiki Channel between Maui and the Island of Kaho’olawe. For shoots like this, I take along my reliable old Canon 40D body and just my favorite telephoto lens, a Canon “L” series 70-300 mm (f4-5.6) lens.