Humpback Whales

So, you wouldn't think this blog would have anything to say about humpback whales.  Unless you saw them.  Live.  Not on an insurance company commercial.  They are just so cool 'in person'. 

A large portion of the humpback whale population winters in the Hawaiian islands.  Smart.  I mean, wouldn't you hang out here from late October until April if you could?

Here they do two things.  Give birth and mate.

They give birth to live young - baby whales the size of Ford Broncos. 

Right after that it's a booty call.  I can't believe I just typed that.  Seriously, they mate in the same season after giving birth.  The ladies slap their pectoral fins on the water in a "Hey Sailor, can I show you a good time" sort of way. 

And the boys come running.  They breach out of the water, perform tail slaps, head slaps, spy hops to attract the attention of a special lady.  There is an entire vocabulary of whale behaviors.  I'm told in the humpback world, bigger really is better.  Nope, I didn't just type that either. 

When they mate and the female determines she's pregnant it's off to Canada and Alaska, the summer feeding grounds.  While in the islands, they don't eat and may lose as much as a third of their body weight.  Funny, that never happens to me when I'm here. 

One of the boys - showing off.

One of the calfs clowning around.

"Look mom!  Mom, look at what I can do.  Are you looking?  Look!  Did you see that, mom?  Mom?  Mom!"

While still endangered, their numbers are improving from about 100 in the 1970's to around 12,000 in the Maui area in 2011.  There are so many you can easily watch them play right from the beach.  How cool is that?  Right?

Our little point and shoot camera was a bit overwhelmed trying to capture the images.  They were at a distance and moved more quickly than we were able to capture.  There are a lot of images in the delete pile - just a lot of water and a splash.  I suddenly had lens and rapid shutter envy.  Perhaps bigger is better.

Ma halo.