Radio-Canada drone operators captured some amazing drone footage. With a DJI Mavic Mini, one of DJI’s smallest drones, they captured a humpback whale, one of the largest mammals in the St. Lawrence River near Montreal.

Humpback whale in St. Lawrence River captured with a Mavic Mini

The humpback whale that was captured by the operators from the Radio-Canada drone team, reached Montreal by way of the St. Lawrence River according to marine mammal experts.

The humpback whale was first spotted underneath the Pont de Québec earlier last week. By Saturday morning the mammal was seen swimming near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in Montreal. Experts hope that the whale will swim back to Tadoussac, where it belongs.

“It’s a very unusual situation,” said Robert Michaud, the co-ordinator for the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Network, according to CBC News.

It is believed that it is the first time that a whale has been spotted in Montreal waters.

“This is a first for a humpback whale. We already had a beluga in the Old Port in 2012, a minke whale reluctantly a few years ago and more frequently seals also ventured to Montreal,” Michaud said.

It is unknown why the humpback whale swam this far upstream, but there are some theories.

“We don’t know why this animal made this journey. There are several hypotheses,” Michaud said, adding that the whale could have been following fish because it was hungry or confused. We have to recognize that mammals do that. Humans, whales and land mammals, sometimes they are vagrants that go in unusual places. These journeys are usually a series of mistakes. But what is sure is that this animal doesn’t belong to this habitat.”

In speaking with DroneXL, CBC News said that the footage was captured with the DJI Mavic Mini. So, a mini drone captures one of the world’s largest mammals. That’s cool! Since news broadcasting happens in 1080p, the DJI Mavic Mini is actually used quite a bit to record news videos.

Images spectaculaires : le rorqual à bosse qui se trouve dans les eaux du port de Montréal a effectué quelques sauts, lundi soir, qui ont été filmés par notre drone. pic.twitter.com/D2ddQ0Oln2

— Radio-Canada Info (@RadioCanadaInfo) June 2, 2020

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Photo/video credit: CBC News

Hat tip to P. Morrell

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