I was able to spend time again this fall on the island of Moorea, near Tahiti in French Polynesia, to observe humpback whales. While photography was the main objective, I am always eager to record whalesong and had several opportunities this year. As before, I am indebted to Pierre Serreli for his guidance and help in the water with the whales as well as Captain Temana for his excellent boat handling and assistance. We were hampered by high winds many days but managed to find our own water and many superb whales. I am again grateful for Pierre and Temana’s efforts as well as, of course, the wonderful whales which is why so many venture to Moorea this time of year.
Since the worldwide humpback whalesong evolves from year to year it is worth recording the song for posterity each season. We had good success with 2024’s Humpback Whale Song but I was hopeful we could record an even cleaner rendition this year. I am an amateur sound engineer and simply want to obtain a clear, accurate and lengthy record I can share with the world. Finding ideal conditions to record humpback whalesong is challenging: solitude is necessary (so that noise from passing boats does not disturb the whale or the recording) as is agreeable weather. We don’t really need clean water since the objective is not to photograph the whale but it is nice to be able to at least see the whale as it hovers in the water column singing. However, finding a singer is the principal challenge since they tend to be solitary and are always underwater for long periods of time. We had a fantastic singer on our first day this season but high winds and swell meant the hydrophone was not stationary in the water so there was some noise in the recording. Later in the week we found a cooperative singer in relatively calm water with no one else around and I made the recording I was hoping for over the course of about 90 minutes. I made some tweaks from my technique of last year and I think the resulting recording has a better signal-to-noise ratio. This recording captures the greater part of three successive song cycles, with some repeated patterns clearly evident if you listen to the entirety of it. There are many interesting passages but I think my favorite begins about 08:17 – check it out! Cheers, and thanks for looking!
Here is a portrait of our singer, “Coleman”. He is a large male and, as is often the case with singers, would pass by us for a casual look each time he surfaced but would never engage or otherwise show any curiosity about us. He was noble and aloof, being busy with his courtship efforts. I named this singer in honor of my father who passed away recently at the age of 89 after a long and well-lived life. My dad and I went out on the ocean once in my boat many years ago so that he could try to see a blue whale with his own eyes. He knew I saw them often and photographed them occasionally, and wanted to experience what something that huge was like. I told him the odds were not good that we would find one, heck the odds are never good for blue whales, but we picked a weekend when I knew there were whales about. Being on the boat was difficult for him since he was prone to seasickness but the whale was something he wanted desperately to see. So he managed his anxiety and awkwardness on the boat well and to our surprise we almost immediately found an enormous solitary blue whale just a mile off Mission Bay. My dad got a fantastic look at the beast and in the years since has remarked on it often to me. It felt like a singular achievement — I mean, how many people actually see a blue whale in person? — and the fact we shared the encounter was important to us both. Fast forward to this singer and this year. My thoughts were with my father as I floated in the water near this leviathan, his song echoing in the water and making the hair on my skin stand on end. It was only a few weeks since my dad had left us and thoughts of him come to me at unexpected times, like now. My fins vibrated from the singer’s loud calls and I found myself thinking “Dad would love this”. The singer was an impressive animal and at that moment it seemed right to name him in honor of my dad. While Coleman Colla my father may be gone, I find a little solace in that fact there is a giant out there roaming the wild chilly waters of the Southern Ocean that is named, even if in my eyes only, for my father. I deliberately did not photograph his fluke so that he will forever remain something of a mystery, not to trivialized by matching him to an ID in a database. Hopefully “Coleman” the mysterious, great, singing whale will travel the oceans and sing his song each winter well past the time I am gone.
Humpback whale singer “Coleman”, a large solitary male. Northwest Moorea, October 8, 2025.
