A Drone Just Filmed a Whale Giving Birth for the First Time
On July 28, 2026, a drone operator named Alexander Forrest filmed a humpback whale giving birth off the coast of Kingscliff, New South Wales. The event, first reported by ABC News Australia on July 29, is believed to be the first whale birth ever recorded by a drone ABC News Australia.
Forrest is a wildlife photographer who works with a group called ORRCA, the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia. He was tracking humpback whales off the New South Wales coast when he noticed a female whale behaving differently and captured the birth The Guardian ITV News. The birth happened during the whales' yearly migration, when they travel from their feeding grounds near Antarctica toward warmer tropical waters to breed USA Today.
The footage is believed to be only the fourth complete humpback whale birth ever recorded on film anywhere in the world ABC News Australia. The mother and her newborn calf were reported to be doing well after the birth Sydney Morning Herald.
Filming a whale birth is extremely difficult. The births usually happen in warm, shallow waters, but no one can predict exactly when or where. Whales tend to swim away from boats, and the water is often cloudy in the areas where they give birth. A drone solves both problems by filming from above, capturing the full birth without a boat nearby to scare the whales.
The broader context here is about why this footage matters for science. Whale births have almost never been filmed in full, so researchers have very little to study. This aerial view lets scientists watch how the mother and calf behave during and right after the birth, without a boat disturbing them. The fact that both are doing well also gives researchers a starting point for studying what happens after a whale gives birth.
As drones become cheaper and more common among wildlife researchers and hobbyists alike, the chances of capturing events like this increase. The Kingscliff footage joins a small but growing collection of drone videos that are helping scientists learn more about how animals behave in the wild.
