Feeding time! Moment a 80ft blue whale is seen nursing its calf off the California coast in rare drone footage

  • Drone footage was taken off Dana Point Headlands in California
  • Boat captain Frank Brennan said he has never seen anything like it in his 20 years working in the area
  • Blue whales typically nurse deep under the water and are rarely seen with their calves on the surface

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: | Updated:

Blue whales typically nurse their calves deep under the water - so the sight of a mother and its child swimming off the coast of California together was a special one.

Incredibly rare footage taken by a drone off Dana Point Headlands, south of Long Beach, was taken by Frank Brennan, a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching.

It shows an approximately 80-foot blue whale mom swimming north with her four- to six -month calf in tow. 

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Super rare: Drone video taken by Frank Brennan, a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, shows an approximately 80-foot blue whale swimming with her calf

Super rare: Drone video taken by Frank Brennan, a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, shows an approximately 80-foot blue whale swimming with her calf

The unusual sighting was something the boat captain, who has worked for Dana Wharf for 20 years, said he had never seen before

The unusual sighting was something the boat captain, who has worked for Dana Wharf for 20 years, said he had never seen before

The sighting was something Brennan, who's worked for Dana Wharf for 20 years, said he had never seen before, the Mercury News reported. 

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a marine biologist and director of the ACSLA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project at Point Vicente, monitors nursing behavior among whales in the area.

However even she agree it was an unusual sight.

'Blue whales nurse all the time but everything happens under water,' she told the newspaper. 

'We don't get to see many blue whales and their calves in the first place. To see a blue whale and a calf nursing, everything has to come together perfectly.'

Blue whales typically suckle for five to seven months, so this calf was likely about to leave the nest 

Blue whales typically suckle for five to seven months, so this calf was likely about to leave the nest 

Blue whales feed off Southern California, but breed and give birth in warmer waters. 

Experts don't know much about their nursing behaviors because of the way in which they nurse underwater.

A female has a calf every two to three years at the most and they nurse their calves for about six months, according to the Mercury News.

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