Drone captures first recorded humpback whale birth off Kingscliff, NSW

On Tuesday afternoon near Kingscliff on the New South Wales north coast, drone pilot Alex Forrest captured a rare event: a humpback whale birthing a calf. The volunteer from the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) spotted the solitary female swimming slowly and, from about 700 metres offshore, deployed a drone that filmed the birth from a safe distance of more than 100 metres, complying with local biodiversity rules.

This marks the first time a whale birth has been recorded by drone and only the fourth such recording worldwide. Scientists including Vanessa Pirotta of Macquarie University and Annie Post of ORRCA plan to submit the footage for peer review, hoping it will aid comparative studies of whale births. UNSW PhD candidate Jane McPhee-Frew noted the observation challenges the belief that humpbacks only give birth in tropical waters, suggesting population growth and new technology are expanding research opportunities.