Whale Watching

OK so it's likely that there isn't a whale in this photo, but the rocky point is Lookout Point, around the back of Bluff Hill. It's where whalers would keep a 'lookout' for whales in de olden days. At this time of year the endangered Tohora, or Southern Right Whales are heading north to their feeding grounds after spending Winter doing private whale business in the Sub-Antarctic Islands. The Southern Rights have been spotted many times off the coast of Bluff, including last week by a trust member out checking possum traps. Southern Rights are distinctive in that they are mainly black with the odd white splodge, as well as having big white barnacle like growth things on their heads. They also have baleen, rather than big Jonah mouths and their flippers are paddle like and they have no dorsal fin. The best identifier of all is their unique 'V' shaped blowhole spray (store that factoid away for the next pub quiz), it's obvious even from a distance, which is why they were such easy targets for whalers.
If you see a whale note down as many things about it as you can, approximate size, which direction it was travelling in, splodges etc. and phone 0800 DOC HOT. The Department of Conservation and Otago University are doing actual research (as opposed to Japanese style 'research') to determine relationships between different populations and to track the hopeful recovery of the species.