A small camera-equipped drone has captured amazing video footage of stampeding dolphins and a baby humpback whale in California last month.

The footage was taken on Jan. 16 after Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana Point launched a Go Pro camera-equipped quadcopter off of a small inflatable boat about six miles off Dana Point. He said the stampede numbered in the thousands and that he recorded "jaw-dropping footage," reports NBC Los Angeles.

The five-minute video shows thousands of common dolphins, three gray whales migrating down the coast off San Clemente, Calif., and a newborn humpback whale calf with its mother in Maui.

According to Dolphin Safari, Southern California has the greatest density of dolphins in the world, with pods up to 10,000 strong "stretched out for miles like the wildebeests of Africa". There are also over 400,000 common dolphins alone, and it's also home to the largest concentration of blue whales.

"This is the most beautiful and compelling five minute video I have ever put together. I learned so much about these whales and dolphins from this drone footage that it feels like I have entered a new dimension!" Captain Dave wrote, according to AOL.

He continued, "I have not been this excited about a new technology since we built our underwater viewing pods on our whale watching boat. Drones are going to change how we view the animal world."

In January, he lost one drone after it hit his small VHF radio antenna on the 14-foot rigid inflatable he was filming from and dropped into the water.

"I get so nervous every flight over the water now, after the accident, my hands start shaking. My wife says no more drones if I lose this one. But she said that before I lost the other one. Now that she's seen what it can do, I think she's just as hooked as I am," he said.

He added, "This technology, that offers such steady footage from the air for such a low price and is so easy to fly, is new. This was a ten or twenty thousand dollar copter a few years ago and flying those took a great deal of skill. I can't wait to see what footage this year will bring with this drone, getting a different perspective on the amazing sightings we already have off Dana Point. There is debate in many states right now about making use of these drones illegal. People are justifiably concerned about invasion of privacy. But it would be a shame to have this new window into a whale's world taken away."