Humpback Calf Breaching

I go whale watching every weekend during the summer months and last week while I was on vacation I took my whole family with me on a trip. Thankfully, I picked the right trip to bring them on because this one ended up being the best one out of the whole week.

We ended up finding a mother and calf pair. The mother was identified as Boomerang and her calf is about 6 months old right now. Initially they were being pretty lazy and just milling around, but suddenly the calf just started going crazy! This little whale must've breached at least 2 dozen times within about 15-20 minutes. It was quite the display!

Here are some of my favorite shots.

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Great series ! How can you tell the calf ?

wow, what a set. amazing captures

Very nice set indeed. What majestic creatures.

awesome set....!! never been whale watching.. will put it on my bucket list...

Incredible shots.

I cannot read the EXIF data. Could you provide some details on your camera setup to achieve these results? I love whale watching, but have not pulled off shots this good.

Celestron, the calves are about as big as a Ford Ranger pick up truck. Moms are as big as a greyhound bus.

Mandy, awesome photos as usual. We were treated to a lot of this same activity in Maui last Feb. It is great fun.

Fantastic sight! Well captured!

Celestron wrote in post #14631993
Great series ! How can you tell the calf ?

Thanks, as Maureen said the calves are MUCH smaller than the adults. They're typically more active as well. You know how rambunctious "kids" can be. The mother, Boomerang, is pretty new to our area. She's been heard of before, but never really seen by the whale watching tour I go out on. It's thought that mothers will bring their calves all around the Gulf of Maine to show them multiple good feeding areas to give them a better chance of survival once they split.

rick_reno wrote in post #14633355
wow, what a set. amazing captures

Thank you!

gjl711 wrote in post #14633364
Very nice set indeed. What majestic creatures.

Thanks! I agree, they are very majestic. I've been additcted to them since 2001 and my addiction is only getting stronger and stronger.

photocopy wrote in post #14633378
awesome set....!! never been whale watching.. will put it on my bucket list...

Definitely do! There is NOTHING like seeing whales out in the wild. You can go to Seaworld to see the Shamu stuff, but personally seeing them in their own habitat is much more rewarding. They definintely don't belong in captivity.

Scott M wrote in post #14634912
Incredible shots.

I cannot read the EXIF data. Could you provide some details on your camera setup to achieve these results? I love whale watching, but have not pulled off shots this good.

Thanks! For starters I'm using a T3i with the 55-250mm IS lens. I don't use the IS though as I've found I kept missing some shots. I shoot in Av mode, don't know why I've just found that to be MY setting. I just uploaded one of the full unedited pics to my FlickR account if you want to see the EXIF data, here's the link. http://www.flickr.com …21586/meta/in/p​hotostream

Maureen Souza wrote in post #14636304
Celestron, the calves are about as big as a Ford Ranger pick up truck. Moms are as big as a greyhound bus.

Mandy, awesome photos as usual. We were treated to a lot of this same activity in Maui last Feb. It is great fun.

Thanks Maureen! We're only about a month into our season and so far we've seen numerous calves, but this one is by far my favorite. We've seen this pair on 3 trips so far and the calf has always been very entertaining.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #14636308
Fantastic sight! Well captured!

Thank you!

My favorite is 5

71SHARK wrote in post #14637906
My favorite is 5

Thanks, I keep flip flopping between 5 and 7.

Amazing shots, Mandy. Love them all. I HAVE to get out this summer!

Stunning set!

A fantastic set of posts, I am jealous

wonderful series