The Department of Conservation's whale research team recently spotted a baby humpback whale in the Cook Strait. It is said to be the second calf reported in New Zealand waters.

The team spotted the baby humpback two days after the whale watchers sighted a rare white humpback whale, which was identified as Migaloo, a well-known whale usually seen off Australia, in the same stretch on Monday.

The baby humpback and its mother for the first were seen by the Department of Conservation's whale research team. The team described the experience as an ‘exciting encounter’.

The first newborn humpback calf was seen in July 2010, during the annual DoC Cook Strait Whale Survey, which is timed for humpback whales' migration from the Antarctic to South Pacific breeding grounds.

Whale survey leader, Nadine Bott, said in a statement that seeing the newborn calf yesterday was a special treat for the survey team. The team considers them lucky that they were able to witness such a miracle as a newborn whale.

Bott said, “The two calves we have seen were likely to have been born prematurely in our waters. The former whalers who work with us on the whale survey assure me they never saw newborn calves in their day”.

She said the calf which they saw yesterday still had faint foetal folds and was about 3-4 meters in length. It was probably several days to a week old, but it is hard to be sure. The mother was relatively small and the calf was possibly her first.

The annual whale survey so far has been successful in spotting 136 humpback whales, which is said to be the highest number in its 12 years, with three days of the four-week survey still to run.