July 17th - Two families of transient orca hunting and travelling together!
On the 17th of July we were lucky enough to see two pods of transient orca travelling and hunting together at the southern end of the Gulf Islands! The two pods we saw today were the T065As and the T037As.
The T037As are a pod consisting of 6 members: T037A Volker and her five offspring T037A1 Inyo, T037A2 Inky, T037A3, T037A4, and T037A5. This pod is relatively young with the matriarch Volker being 26 years old (born in 1994) and her kids age from 13 to one year old. This shows that she is a very successful mom with all of her known offspring surviving and she is consistently having more calves. The T065As are also a pod of 6 with their matriarch T065A Fingers (aka Artemis) travelling with her 5 offspring. Her kids are T065A2 OOxjaa, T065A3 Amira, T065A4 Ellifrit, T065A5 Elsie, and T065A6. This pod is slightly older than the T037As with Fingers being 34 years old (born in 1986). She has kids that range from 16-2 years old. Fingers is also a great mom! Her oldest son, Ooxjaa was living out his rebellious teenage years for the last little while and travelling away from his pod but our photos show that he was back travelling with his mom again on the 17th. Family bonds are very important to orca but its important to socialize with other pods like we saw here today. The two pods aren’t directly related but still have fun travelling together.
Ooxjaa (left), Amira (middle), and Inyo after passing through the current alongside Saturna island.
Watching these two pods hunting together and then fighting through some of the currents produced beside Saturn island was an amazing sight to see! After watching these two pods we had to head back home. Along the way we saw more wildlife such as these Steller sea lions hanging out on a buoy and some harbour seals near the rocks.
Overall it was a great trip in the sunshine with lots of whales and other wildlife. Check out the rest of the photos taken by Marine Naturalist Ryan Uslu.
The two pods fighting the current together!
Fingers surfacing before her kids.
Figners with her youngest T065A6.