July 26th - Whales all over the place!
Today we got to watch Orcas in the morning near Lantzville, which is just North of Nanaimo. The T101’s were doing some traveling, heading North.
In the afternoon we had a bit more excitement with a mom and calf pair of humpbacks near the UBC coastline, followed by T077 C and D milling near the sturgeon banks, just south of Vancouver. And on the way back to harbour we spotted 3 more humpbacks near Thresher rock by Gabriola Island. We didn’t manage to get any ID’s off these 3 but it was still great to see them!
T101’s. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster (10.30)
The T101’s are lead by Reef, she was born in 1969 so she’s 50 years old this year! She travels with her 3 sons, Beardslee (T102) born in 1984, Rush (T101A) born 1993, and Lagoon (T101B) born in 1997.
Beardslee has a different code, which makes him look like he’s part of a different pod. He was first spotted and cataloged while travelling alone, so he was though to be a lone male, but it was soon realized that he spends all his time with the T101’s, which makes it highly likely that he is actually Reef’s first born!
T101’s. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster (10.30)
Beardslee in the front, Rush in the back. Photo by Ryan Uslu (10.30)
Zigzag and her calf Scuba milling in the waters off the coast of the University of BC in Vancouver.
Scuba is a brand new member of the Humpback population, and as far as we can tell, Zigzags first baby! We’ve only been watching Zigzag since about 2015, so it’s possible she’s had previous calfs, but this is the first one we’ve gotten to watch her with. So far the little one seems to be doing just fine! Often showing of her tail and waving her pecs for people to watch.
One of our frequent passengers, Angela Bacon, is Zigzags biggest fan, and actually got to help pick the name for her calf! Scuba was one of her choices, based on a small mark on her fluke that looks like a scuba diver. The name was cute, and everyone liked it, so it was made official!
Zigzag and her calf, Scuba. Photo by Ryan Uslu (3.30)
Below is Neftali, born in 2006, and Alcyon, born in 2009. These 2 are members of the T77 pod. They seemed to be traveling solo today without their mom Asja (T77), their older brother The Church (T77B) and their younger sibling Misneach (T77E)
Sometimes orca pods will split up to hunt separately, or for breeding. Which could mean that these 2 are males, off looking for a pod of females! Though we don’t have confirmed genders of these two yet.
Neftali, T77C, and Alcyon, T77D, milling in the sturgeon banks outside Richmond. Photo by Ryan Uslu (3.30)
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