July 13, 2024, 10:30 am - T101s spending time in the Strait, and a mini family reunion with the T075Bs and T077s
Three boats headed off the dock in search of whales this morning. Thanks to some land-based sightings, we had a general idea of where to find them. Our two open boats headed north, where they found a Transient Killer Whale family, the T101s:
T101 Reef ♀ (≤1969)
T101A Rush ♂ (1993)
T101B Lagoon ♂ (1997)
T101A Rush was hogging the camera today, but we can’t blame him. Adult male orca are an impressive sight, weighing up to 12,000lbs and reaching 28-30 feet long. At 31 years old, Rush is fully grown and his dorsal fin is around 6 feet tall. Despite the lack of photographic evidence, rest assured that matriarch, Reef, was travelling nearby with her younger son, Lagoon, close to her side. Male orcas will typically stay with their mom for their entire lives so we hope to see these three whales together for many years to come.
While our open boat was spending time with the T101s, our semi-covered boat encountered two other families in the Strait of Georgia. The T075Bs and T077s:
T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Jasper ♂ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble (2017)
T075B4 (2021)
T077 Asja ♀ (1981)
T077C Neftali ♂ (2006)
T077D Alycon ♀ (2009)
T077E Misneach (2016)
These whales have been spending a lot of time together recently and it’s suspected that the matriarchs are siblings! The supposed family is quite large, especially given how successful the younger females in the group have been with their own pods. They think the mother of these two whales is T075 Kidney! She is estimated to be born around 1971, making her at least 53 years old! While this might seem like an orca at an advanced age, they can live to be much older, with the oldest recorded female being estimated at 102 years old!
Over the 53 years of her life, she has had 5 known offspring and 10 grandchildren. That’s a total of 21 different whales in this family line! Although the younger whales we saw today may continue to add to this number, Kidney herself would be through menopause, and won’t be having any more kids of her own. She now is seemingly content travelling with her only son Stone who is now 33 years old. While the females will continue the family name with their calves, Stone’s offspring won’t since he won’t be involved in raising them at all. Such is the life of a transient orca!
The T075Bs and T077s were keeping us on our toes today, travelling quickly with lots of direction changes during our time with them. We got some great looks though, and it was eventually time to leave them to their mini family reunion. We continued to see what wildlife might be spending its time at Stinky Rocks today, and were greeted by an uproar from the Steller Sea Lions! These large animals are constantly fighting amongst themselves when they aren’t napping, especially as we get further into the summer. Usually, by the peak of summer, we will start to see less of them since they will be leaving us to return to their breeding grounds. To prepare for this breeding there are a lot more hormones pumping through their system and they get more aggressive. Soon we won’t be able to enjoy watching them yell at each other on these rocks as they leave our waters.
There were also some Harbour Seals that were sunning themselves on the nearby rocks. Due to their small size, they need to pull themselves up off the rocks for around half of the day to maintain their body temperatures in our cold water environment. Inside the protection of the Islands, the surface temperature can get warmer, but deeper where these seals spend more of their time it can be quite cold. Water generally acts as a heat sink as well, pulling more energy from whatever animal is in it down since it takes so much to warm up the surrounding water!
We had one final stop at the Gabriola Bluffs to visit with the Bald Eagle Greyson who was sitting near his nest, and the nesting cormorants along the sandstone cliffs slightly to the north.
It was great to see so much wildlife during this trip! The onboard Naturalists Des Poier, Lucy Willis, and Vanessa Vereschahen captured some amazing photos from the day which can be viewed below!
An interesting angle of T077C Neftali. Photo by Des Poier.
A good look at the lean in T077C Neftali’s dorsal fin along with his saddle patch. Photo by Des Poier.
Two of the matriarchs, T075B Pebbles and T077 Asja. Photo by Des Poier.
T101A Rush swimming towards T077 Asja. Photo by Des Poier.
T101A Rush. Photo by Des Poier.
T101A Rush. You can even see the freckles in his eye patch here. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T101A Rush. Photo by Lucy Willis.
T101A Rush. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T077C Neftali. At 18 years old, his dorsal fin will still be growing. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T077C Neftali. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T077C Neftali. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T075B Pebbles. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T075B2 Fifi. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Our open boat, Keta, riding the waves. Photo by Des Poier.
How many Harbour Seals do you see? Photo by Des Poier.
Cute curly whiskers! Photo by Lucy Willis.
A sea lion scratching an itch with Mount Baker in the background. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Stellar Sea Lion’s heading for a dive. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Stellars squabbling over space on Stinky Rock. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
An adult Bald Eagle looking a little ruffled. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A much more majestic angle. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Juvenile Bald Eagle Grayson in the nest, peeking from behind a branch. They’re shy. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A cormorant sitting above a guano waterfall. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A cormorant in flight. Photo by Lucy Willis.