The huge pod of dolphins seen off the Kaikōura coast. Photo: Chris Lierheimer
A pod of almost 500 dolphins has been spotted by an eagle-eyed pilot near Kaikōura.
Chris Lierheimer - founder and chief pilot of aerial surveyor Upsite - was returning home on Sunday after the Flying New Zealand national championships in Hastings.
After taking off from a fuel stop in Kaikōura just before 1pm, they saw the enormous pod of dolphins offshore.
"We started circling around them and it took a little while to see them, but once my eyes were attuned to it, it just looked like a massive swarm of fish," he said.
"Luckily I had my big zoom lens with me, and I was able to start snapping photos. It was really easy and clear to see dolphins jumping out of the water, gathered near the surface, jauntily swimming along."
The huge pod of dolphins seen off the Kaikōura coast. Photo: Chris Lierheimer
The plane was flying higher than commercial whale-watching flights in the area, at about 2000 feet, Lierheimer said.
"Being up a little higher, it was nice to have that perspective and fit all those dolphins into one frame," he said.
"I've done whale-watching excursions before, and it's usually pretty emotional to feel connected to that wildlife. To see them from the air added another element of excitement and this grandeur of the world we live in."
He estimated about 450 dolphins were in the pod.
Department of Conservation senior science advisor Dave Lundquist said the photos were not sufficiently detailed to confirm species but based on the location, it was very likely they were dusky dolphins.
"They are frequently found near [the] shore at Kaikōura in pods of several hundred animals," he said.
"Pods of over 1000 animals are sighted every year off Kaikōura, and there are reports in the scientific literature of offshore sightings of multiple thousands of dusky dolphins in a single pod."
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