Punters are being asked to keep their eyes peeled and report sightings of a pod of pilot whales which were spotted close to shore off Marsden Point in Whangārei yesterday.
Floppy Halliday, co-founder of Whale Rescue, said the pod of about 15 pilot whales were reported by a group of locals out on a fishing trip yesterday evening.
"They called us on the Orca hotline because they thought it was a little bit of a funny place to find whales, and they were milling around and not going anywhere which often can happen if they're a little bit stressed," she said.
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Halliday said since the first sighting, a staff member from the Department of Conservation who lived in Whangārei Heads had been monitoring the area until dark and spotted them about 8pm, Halliday left the Bay of Islands at 5am to travel to Whangārei to search, and a local guy with a microlight had flown around to have a look but hadn't spotted anything.