Two southern right whales spent much of the day off Oamaru’s coast yesterday.
About 10am off Beach Rd south of Cape Wanbrow, small crowds gathered as the whales were spotted 150m from shore.
About 3pm, the whales were seen north of Cape Wanbrow, about 200m off the Oamaru Harbour breakwater.
Department of Conservation biodiversity manager Jim Fyfe said due to the quality of the photo supplied by the Otago Daily Times he could not tell whether the two whales were the mother and calf that thrilled Dunedin residents and tourists as they swam near Aramoana and Deborah Bay at the end of July.
Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony research scientist Dr Philippa Agnew said a sighting in Oamaru was relatively rare.
