Southern right whale mum and baby just cruising north

FIRST SIGHT: Tony and Jenny Enderby took these photos of the southern right whales in Omaha Bay, their first sighting of this species in New Zealand.

The southern right whale and calf visiting Rodney’s east coast continue to cause a stir.

Marine photographers and authors Tony and Jenny Enderby of Leigh photographed the mother and calf in Omaha Bay this week and say it’s their first sighting of the species in New Zealand waters.

The couple saw hundreds of southern right whales in Argentina last year around the Valdes Peninsula.

"We were amazed by the numbers there," says Jenny.

"In New Zealand this is our first sighting of these whales and maybe they are finally starting to make a comeback after being hunted so heavily around our coast."

Seeing them in Omaha Bay added to their previous sightings of brydes whales, orca, humpback whales and dolphins.

After getting a phonecall alert the Enderbys dashed down to the rocks at the end of Penguin St where the whales were only about 50 metres away. They then went out with friends in a boat and sat with motors off as the whales moved slowly around. They were later seen about 100 metres off Omaha Beach.

"An awesome sight seeing mother and baby," Jenny says.

The whales were slowly moving north. Both mother and calf are fit and well and will probably continue to move north, says Conservation Department staff member David Wilson.

They are expected to stay in New Zealand waters for the winter before heading south to Antarctica around the end of August.

Mr Wilson advises boaties to give the whales plenty of space, not to approach closer than 50 metres, and if they should approach to put the motor in idle. Boaties are asked not to obstruct the animals and not to come between the mother and calf.

The department is taking biopsies from as many whales coming to the coast as possible to learn if this group is separate to a group that moves up to the Auckland Islands in winter.

- © Fairfax NZ News