IT SEEMS one whale didn’t quite make it to the hospital in time, giving birth during the northern migration.
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Whale watchers spotted the calf off Port Stephens, near Cabbage Tree Island, over the weekend.
Rachel Stewart was out on a private vessel when she spotted the baby.
“The mother kept pushing it up to the surface,” she said.
“It was incredible. Very rare to happen this far south.”
The baby whale was just one or two days old, according to whale expert and Imagine Cruises owner Frank Future.
He and his crew also managed to spot the mother and calf on the weekend.
“You don’t see many born along the way, but some don’t make it,” he said.
“It is like giving birth in the cab on the way to the hospital.”
The whale watching season runs from mid-May to August when humpbacks migrate north to their calving ground in the South Pacific region, where most whales are born.
The southern migration takes place from August to mid-November when mothers and newborn calves make their way back down to Antarctica.
By the time they reach the waters off Port Stephens for the return journey the whales are more than double the size from when they were born, making the sighting on the weekend incredibly rare.
“It would have been not more than 3.5 metres, I have seen bigger dolphins” Mr Future said.
“It kept wanting to come up to the boat, but mum kept shepherding him away. It was so cute.”