# Whales in Sydney Harbour ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322 "2010-10-07T02:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/1 "2010-10-07T02:15:42Z")
[… again](http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/environment/flying-whales/20101007-168os.html?selectedImage=0). Freakin’ hell it’s great to live in this city sometimes. Shot #5 in that sequence is bloody amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/2 "2010-10-07T03:06:06Z")
They’re great shots. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/3 "2010-10-07T07:35:32Z")
What happens to whales in the harbour? Once they get a certain way in, I imagine they really struggle to find the way out again. Am I wrong about that? Or do the authorities tow them out again? I can’t imagine a whale would survive long in the harbour itself - although it’s huge, its unlikely to have sufficient quantities of whale goodies to keep one alive. Or am I wrong about that too? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/4 "2010-10-07T08:46:39Z")
I can’t recall stories of a whale getting beyond the Bridge, which is a couple of kms further west. I’m guessing the shots are off Bradley’s Head. The harbour isn’t esturine for a quite long way up the Parramatta River, past Gladesville Bridge. There’s no reason why they couldn’t goof off for a couple of weeks. If they got disorientated then NP&W would probably organise some boats to herd them out. There is nothing for them to eat, but whales don’t feed on their migration, though the calves will suckle. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/5 "2010-10-07T09:15:26Z")
In related news, the Royal Australian Navy is seeking bids on a contract to supply 2,000 square meters of transparent aluminum. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/6 "2010-10-07T09:50:14Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > What happens to whales in the harbour? Once they get a certain way in, I imagine they really struggle to find the way out again. Am I wrong about that? Or do the authorities tow them out again? I can’t imagine a whale would survive long in the harbour itself - although it’s huge, its unlikely to have sufficient quantities of whale goodies to keep one alive. Or am I wrong about that too? They send a pilot whale in to help get them out. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/7 "2010-10-07T13:30:37Z")
I see the Navy is standing watch in case of the Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/8 "2010-10-07T14:34:47Z")
Are those New South whales? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/9 "2010-10-07T14:41:06Z")
One whale was seen to blow a small striped fish through it’s blowhole . . . ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/10 "2010-10-07T23:14:41Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > What happens to whales in the harbour? Once they get a certain way in, I imagine they really struggle to find the way out again. Am I wrong about that? Or do the authorities tow them out again? I can’t imagine a whale would survive long in the harbour itself - although it’s huge, its unlikely to have sufficient quantities of whale goodies to keep one alive. Or am I wrong about that too? It is normal for mothers with calves to rest in bays, harbours and estuaries during their annual migrations. They have no trouble finding their own way in and out. [Here’s a map of Sydney Harbour](http://www.planetware.com/map/sydney-harbour-port-jackson-map-aus-aus170.htm). The entrance from the ocean is at the middle-right of that map, and (from the descriptions in the article) the whales were about where the words MIDDLE HARBOUR are, so quite close to the entrance. In the past whales have been seen much further in, at least as far as the city and Harbour Bridge in the centre of that map. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/11 "2010-10-08T00:19:05Z")
That is so cool, I often see dolphins in Port Phillip but don’t remember ever seeing whales. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whales-in-sydney-harbour/556322/12 "2010-10-28T05:20:51Z")
[And again](http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/whales-call-sydney-home-20101028-174tb.html?autostart=1)! This time the mother and calf swam all the way up to the Harbour Bridge (indeed, judging by the wharves in the background, under it and beyond). Great stuff.