The pilot of a scenic flight tour charter was surprised when she flew across a family of seven orcas, including a new baby, off the Exmouth coast in Western Australia's north-west cape.
This is the first calf they’ve seen in the area in three years.
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Tiffany Klein, chief pilot at Ningaloo Aviation – and aerial spotting specialist – had just finishing looking for whale sharks (Ningaloo is home to one of the world’s largest aggregations with around 600 of these endangered sharks visiting each year) and was keeping an eye out for pygmy blue whales when she saw the orcas. “The calf stood out straight away because it was much smaller than the rest of the pod,” she says.
Seeing a calf is always special but the excitement of this sighting was amplified because it’s the first baby they had seen at Ningaloo Reef in three years, she says: “It was one of those moments where you see the full circle of life on the reef and now, we may have another regular visitor within this orca family.”
Klein was able to capture a series of breathtaking shots of the family, with their new arrival, which were shared on Facebook.
Killer whales are most frequently seen off the coast of Ningaloo, Western Australia, during winter and spring when humpback migrations and calving season bring more prey (baby humpbacks) into the area for the orcas.
At other times of year, when the killer whales are foraging across broader areas of ocean, sightings are less frequent but do still happen. “For the majority of the last 15 years, we have had sightings in most months of summer and autumn,” says marine researcher John Totterdell, who is an expert on Ningaloo’s orca population.
But seeing this baby is noteworthy. “The most recent calves from the local orca families have been lost – so this is an incredibly positive sign,” says Totterdell, adding that they will monitor this group closely.
With over 12,500 kilometres of coastline (20,000 including islands), Western Australia is a haven for marine animals. Ningaloo Reef, around 745 miles north of Perth, is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site which is home to humpback whales, Omura’s whales, minke whales, manta rays, oceanic rays, dugongs and turtles, as well as whale sharks and orcas. “If it’s there, we will see it – giving us daily reminders as to why Ningaloo is a World Heritage listed fringing reef,” says Klein.
In her role as a pilot and spotter, Klein has the amazing job of finding these species from the air and sharing them with passengers or guiding boats to their location. “The reaction when someone spots their first animal sighting is something that will never get old,” she says.
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