Aug 20 - T18/19's

On August 20th our covered vessel, Kula, travelled through the Gulf Islands to visit the T18’s/T19’s foraging in the Saanich Inlet.

The T18/19 pod has been sighted frequently by us this summer. This unique pod is 3 generations of orca. The matriarch is T18 Esperanza, and she travel with her daughter T19, Nootka. Nootka has 2 sons of her own, Galiano (T19B) born in 1995, and Spouter (T19C) born in 2001. Based on our records, T19 had a previous calf, T19A, who didn’t make it. However, her 2 boys are impressively large with their 6 foot dorsal fins. They make their mom and grandmother look very small.

Both Esperanza and Nootka have approximate birthdates, with Esperanza being born sometime before 1955 and Nootka before 1965. Telling the age of adult orcas who have never been spotted before can be difficult, but thanks to our growing database of photos we have most, if not all, the frequent visitors to our region cataloged. Typically Nootka would have had the number of T18A, however, it wasn’t clear when T18 and T19 were first spotted that they were related. It was likely they were spotted apart, and given individual numbers before they rejoined. They are now rarely ever spotted apart from each other, or their boys.

Take a look below at the beautiful photos of Galiano, Nootka and Esperanza that our Naturalist Ryan Uslu managed to get during our trip on the 20th.

T19, T19B

T19B

T19, T19B

T19B

T19, T19B

Believe it or not, both these orcas are adults! Galiano is sporting an impressive 6 foot dorsal fin, while his mom and grandmother have much smaller dorsal fins. A 3 foot dorsal on a female is considered a large fin.
When you look at Grandma Esperanza and Momma Nootka next to Galiano, it’s hard to believe they are 30-40 years older than Galiano!

T19, T19B

These photos are excellent examples of what naturalists look for when IDing the whales on the water. First look at the size and shape of the dorsal. In the case of T19B, Galiano, his find is incredibly tall and wide, and even curves at the top giving it a “flat top” appearance. He also has a large nick in his fin about 1/3 from the top.

You can also see the scaring on Galiano’s saddle patch very clearly. See how different the left and right sides are from each other? On other individuals, who have similar dorsals, those saddle patches can be very useful in IDing individual pod members.

Beautiful close shot of T19, Nootka, Mother of Galiano and Spouter, and daughter to T18, Esperanza

Sleepy harbour seals relaxing in the waters.