May 30th - 4 pod T-party and some Humpbacks to end the day

On May 30th our semi-covered vessel Kula left the Nanaimo Harbour in search of Humpbacks reported off Entrance Island. We circled the area but came up empty handed, so decided to try our luck north. We followed along the Sunshine Coast before starting to tip south again near Lasqueti.

After an hour and a half search we finally found our whales. It wasn’t the humpbacks we expected, but rather a large group of Bigg’s Orcas socializing in the Strait of Georgia.

We hadn’t just found 1 large pod of orcas, we found 4 pods! All hanging out and enjoying the afternoon together. The T23’s, T46B’s, T100’s and T100B’s were having a T-Party!

Bigg’s Orcas, also referred to as Transient Orcas, typically travel in small pods of 2-6 members. These pods are almost always a family unit made of mom and her offspring. Sometimes we get 3 generation pods, made of grandma, her daughter and grandchildren. And on odd occasions we even have pods who had adopted non-family members into their pod. These pods will travel solo throughout the Salish sea, but are not territorial. Instead they share the whole sea and actually enjoy the moments they get to spend with each other. When they gather in large numbers, like today, we call the T-Parties! Because that’s exactly what they are. A huge whale party!

Red Is where we saw orcas, Green is where our humpbacks were hanging out, pink is our sealions at entrance Island and Yellow is the Cormorants at the Gabriola Bluffs.

It’s always nice to get a family portrait!

Laurel (T100C) is very distinct, with a notch about half way down his dorsal, in a sea of ladies his 6 foot dorsal definitely stands out!

Tail splashing is a great way to communicate your excitement when you’re an orca.

T parties are always a thrill to watch, usually because there is so much action. When lots of whales come together it’s typically for socializing or hunting reasons, and today seemed to be a social gathering. The T46Bs’s and T100’s had been together since the day before at least, and the 100B’s and 23’s seemed new to the mix. These social events are a perfect example of Orca Culture. Think of the last big party or wedding you attended (we know, it’s been a while). You have your Mothers, Aunts, Grandmas and older women hanging out, gossiping and sharing community knowledge. You have your young boys showing off and flexing their muscles. And then you have the kids, loud and full of energy, chasing each other and getting under everyones feet. Orcas are the same way.
During these parties the matriarchs exchange information, the males take it as an opportunity to mate, which there was plenty of during this encounter, and the young ones play and chase each other around.

The T23’s consist of 5 whales and is one of those 3 generation pods mentioned previously. Janice is the Matriarch, born around 1964, making her at least 57 years old. Janice has officially entered Grandma territory and won’t be having any more of her own children. Since Janice has only 2 surviving daughters, she travels with her youngest, Axle (T23D), who was born in 1993 and her kids Robin (T23D3), Ross (T23D4) and T23D5.

Here’s a beautiful close up of Axle. She has a distinct notch near the base of her dorsal fin and very prominent scaring in her saddle patch making her very easy to identify.

“What’s the pink thing?” Is a question we often hear on the water during these T-parties. The “pink thing” in question is often referred to as a “sea snake” by naturalists. T-parties are a prime time for mating behaviour, as Transient orcas don’t breed within family units. Laurel (T100C) is the only male of reproductive age in this T-party, so it’s likely his Sea-snake we are seeing proudly displayed above the water. Robin (T23D3) is the only other confirmed male, but being born in 2012 he’s about 3 years away from hitting whale puberty and being of reproductive age.

Because orcas travel in matrilines we are never certain who the father is, but events like these, if documented, could provide us with possibilities. If the T46B’s or the T23’s show up in 18 months with a calf it could be that Laurel fathered the calf, but as we don’t do genetic testing we will never know for sure.

Fun fact about “sea snakes”, in the old days sailors who had been at sea too long would see snake like tentacles protruding from the water and believe them to be sea monsters, when in reality it was a male whale just hanging out waiting for a chance at one of the females. All those myths and legends about giant sea monsters were really whale love stories. Who could have guessed,

See that tail? Orcas, like a lot of whales, are tactile animals. This means they enjoy touch. Orcas don’t seem to have the concept of “personal space”, often swimming on top of one another and diving over each other in excitement.

Someones practicing their back stroke!

The T46B’s are a very large pod and are sighted frequently in the Salish Sea. T46B, Raksha is only 33 years old, so she’s still got a few years to have more children, but she already has 5 she travels with, as well as 2 grandchildren.
One of her grandchildren made a big splash when they entered the world in 2018. Tl’uk the white whale captured everyones hearts and we were fortunate enough to have seen him several times in the last few years. Unfortunately Tl’uk hasn’t been spotted with his pod in recent months, but it’s not uncommon for young male orcas to spread the wings and travel with other pods for a short time.

On the right we have Sol, T46B6, the youngest member of the pod swimming very closely behind another whale. It’s hard to tell who, but it’s likely Raksha, her mom.

T46b2 Akela (right) has a distinct notch about 1/4 from the top of her dorsal fin. at 13 years old she’s now old enough to start having calves of her own, its only a matter of time before we see more new members of this pod!

The rest of Raksha’s family consists of her daughters Tread (46B1, 2003), Akela (46B2, 2008), Sedna (46B3, 2011), Quiver (46B4, 2013), Sol (46B6, 2019), her granddaughter Tsakani (46B1A, 2015) and grandson Tl’uk (46B1B, 2018).
Raksha has produced almost entirely female offspring and has only lost one calf, 46B5. Since female orcas usually leave their moms side after they have started to have calves, there will come a time when Raksha likely does what Janice from the T23’s has done. She will join one of her daughters and help raise her grandchildren. She may even choose to hop between her daughters pods, given there are so many of them, and aid in raising all her grandchildren. Only time will tell, but she still has a few years left before she will enter menopause and stop having her own calves.

One of our whales today is T46B3, Sedna. The name Sedna comes from Inuit Mythology, and while there are different versions of the myth they all share a common theme that Sedna was thrown overboard from a kayak by her father, typically in sacrifice, and as she tried to climb back in, her fingers were cut off. In most retellings her fingers became the seals, sea lions and orcas that we enjoy seeing today and Sedna herself became a goddess of the sea. She is considered to be a vengeful goddess and hunters would provide offerings of harpoon-heads, knives and pieces of meat and bone in hopes of good weather and fair seas.

The T100 and T100B’s were also in the mix on this beautiful day. These 2 pods are another prime example of orca social dynamics, especially within family units.
The T100’s consist of Hutchins, born around 1979, making her about 42 years old. Hutchins will be entering menopause any year now, so she’s likely done having her own calves. She travels primarily with her son Laurel (T100C, 2002), daughter Tharaya (T100E, 2009) and Estrella (T100F, 2014). In total Hutchins has had 6 calves, however T100A and T100D are presumed deceased, as they have not been seen with the pod in a long time. However, her daughter Freya (T100B, 1997) has her own offspring, T100B1 (2010). Freya and her offspring separated from Hutchins pod some time ago and typically travel alone. Though today Freya joined up with her mom for a small family reunion. This made a 3 generation, 6 member pod complete with all living members of the T100 matriline at this T-party.

Orcas are highly intelligent and bonded animals, and though females will often leave their mothers side once they have their own family, and occasionally males will go off as lone males, they seem to retain those family bonds and frequently join up with their extended family.

After leaving our T-party in the strait we headed back towards Nanaimo with our eyes wide, searching for humpbacks. Along the way we came across a bag of empty cans! Not what we were hoping to find, but happy we found it and not an unfortunate animal mistaking the trash for food. The bag was fresh enough that none of the cans had fallen out yet so we quickly scooped it up to be disposed of properly.

We continued on our way and soon we found humpback soup! We spotted several dorsals slowly rising out of the water with a powerful breath. We’re certain some of these whales were enjoying an afternoon nap as they seemed to stay low in the water. After waking up we got some high back arches but never any flukes.
Flukes refers to the underside of a whales tail, and with humpbacks its the primary way of identification. We use the scaring and coloration of the tails to know who we are watching. Because our whales were being camera shy we only have dorsals, which can also be used to ID, but are much harder to do so. Unfortunately we still haven’t been able to match our whales from this tour but we won’t stop trying.

After leaving our humpbacks off Entrance Island we scooted over to the shores of Entrance for a look at our favourite pinnipeds. In the Salish sea we regularly encounter 3 species of pinnipeds, Stellar Sea Lions, California Sea Lions and Harbour seals.
On Entrance you can find all 3 throughout the winter and spring months. It won’t be long before our Stellar sea lions head north for breading season, and our California sea lions head south. We’ve been watching their numbers dwindle for a few weeks, and it won’t be long before the last of the stragglers heads off to the rookeries.

Are you an avid whale watcher? Are you looking for a simple way to help your whales when you spot them? There is a new app available called “Whale Report” by Ocean Wise Conservation Association that allows you to report the location of whales. This app does not broadcast the location to anyone else, but allows transport Canada to alert ferries and other large vessels to the presence of whales so they can take appropriate action, such as reducing speed or changing course.

All photos on this tour were taken by Marine Naturalist Rebeka Pirker.

Join one of our daily Whale Watching Adventures, departing from the Nanaimo Harbour at noon on either our Semi-Covered boat Kula, or our open zodiacs Cascadia and Keta. You can book your seats by calling us at 250-667-5177 or directly through our website. If you have any questions you can email us at info@vancouverislandwhalewatch.com