June 24th - Visiting with Zigzag in the Strait of Georgia!
When we left the harbour on the Morning of the 24th it was a beautiful day! There was no reports of any animals in the area so we set out to find our own! We headed through the southern gulf island searching for some wildlife. The first place we looked was a common haul-out spot for harbour seals. The tides were right (low tides usually mean more seals) but today there weren’t all the rock sausages we usually expect to find on the rocks. Instead there was a group of 4 juvenile bald eagles eating something. No wonder the seals weren't hanging around! Although bald eagles are largely scavengers they will also hunt things like fish, small mammals, and other birds. We don’t know if this was a case of hunting or if it was scavenging but either way the seals weren't sticking around to risk being lunch themselves!
The bald eagles on the haul-out site. You can see their prize near the talons of the eagle third from the left!
After leaving the bald eagles to their feast we continued down Trincomali channel, went through active pass, and headed back along the other side of Galiano island. After doing some more weaving in and out of the Southern Gulf islands we started the journey back towards the harbour with one last stop at the Gabriola Reefs to see some sea lions. While watching these hilarious animals there was a telltale blow in the distance from a whale!
Zigzags dorsal fin as she prepares to go down for a dive! Although dorsals aren’t used as often for IDing purposes zigzag has a more recognizable fin.
We took off from the sea lions towards this distant blow hoping it wasn't just a figment of our imagination and found Zigzag the humpback whale! We watched her surfacing and diving in the water showing off her flukes to us as she did so! Her final goodbye to us was a lunge out of the surface. It is always amazing to see these giant animals, especially knowing how far they come to be in our waters! The humpback whales found along our coast migrate down to either Hawaii or Mexico every winter for breeding and calfing. Zigzag has recently been cross matched to Hawaii! Over the winter they only feed opportunistically in the southern waters surviving off of the fat reserves they build over the summer. Food is more abundant in the northern waters which is why they make the journey every year. Its a trade-off for them between food and predators. Every year they do these migrations, it’s amazing to think of the distance they will travel in a lifetime! Zigzag was seen in the area with a calf last year who has also returned to the area, although they won’t stay together after the first year.
The underside of Zigzags flukes! The white dot triangle on the left side is how she gets her alternate nickname “Trinity”. Zigzag comes from the zigzag shape on the trailing edge of her fluke. Can you see it?
A very sunny look at the top side of zigzags tail flukes.
Finding zigzag later in the trip really shows that its never over until the boat hits the dock! It was wonderful to see all the wildlife and getting to explore the waters in the Southern Gulf Islands. If you would like to join us for our next adventure we have tours daily which can be booked by calling or through our website! We hope to see you out on the water soon! Enjoy the pictures from the trip taken by naturalist Val Watson.
One of the young bald eagles bidding us farewell on the water.