July 16th - Humpbacks, Bigg's and Northern Residents?

On July 16th we had a very busy morning tour packed full of whales. Our boat left the harbour at 10:30 and we found our first group of whales after a trip to Active Pass. It took us a minute to figure out who we were watching, as these were some very new faces to our area!
We had come across a pod of Northern Resident Killer Whales, or NRKWs. These whales are typically sighted in the Johnstone Strait and around the islands to the north of Vancouver Island. While the NRKW range does overlap some of the Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKWs) range, the 2 populations rarely interact with one another and tend to stick to their own home range. Seeing the NRKWs down in Active Pass, which is on the ferry route between Sidney and Vancouver, was very odd, to say the least.
Toady we got to watch this group, the A42 pod, travelling through the pass and splashing about. Like the SRKWs, the NRKWs diet is largely comprised of salmon. They follow the salmon runs out to the Pacific, and then back to the mouths of the big rivers.
There are many similarities between Resident Orcas and Transient Orcas that go beyond their physical appearance. Both types of Orcas have very strong family bonds and travel in close-knit family units, also known as pods. The Family units of the Resident orcas tend to be larger, often with multiple generations in one pod, whereas the Bigg’s Orcas tend to be a single mother and her offspring. We do occasionally see 3 generation pods with the Bigg’s orca but even then they typically travel in groups of no more than about 6 whales. Seeing the Northern Residents travelling together, tail slapping, pec slapping and breaching as they made their way through the pass was an incredible experience.

While the Southern Resident Killer Whales are considered an Endangered population, because they only have 75 wild whales left in the population, the Northern Resident Killer Whales are faring much better. By 2019 it was estimated that there were at least 310 whales, belonging to 3 clans (A, G and R) with over 34 Matrilines.

Resident Orcas are very chatting whales, and their clans are distinguished based on their calls - think of it like having a different dialect within a language. Each pod within each clan also has its own distinct calls. Researchers who spend a lot of time listening to these whales can identify which clan, matriline and sometimes even which individual is around just based on the calls they hear.

The NRKWs are also known to frequent rubbing beaches, where they rub their bellies across the smooth stones. There are even 24/7 cameras set up so you can view these beaches from your own home.

After leaving the Northern Residents we travelled up the outside of Galiano Island heading for home when we came across some familiar faces. Slate the Humpback and her calf were traveling quickly heading north.

We also found a 3rd humpback traveling alone near Valdes island!

After leaving our 3rd humpback we tried to get back to the harbour but were stopped by another group of Orcas! This time it was a Bigg’s orca matriline - the T046s were hanging out near Harmac just south of the Nanaimo Harbour. This pod is pretty easy to ID because of the 2 large boys that travel in the pod.
This pod consists of 5 whales, T046 Wake the matriarch, and her 4 pod members: T122, also known as Centeki, and her sons T046D Strider, T046E Thor, and T046F Loki.

Wake has been a highly productive female who has quite a legacy behind her. She was born sometime before 1966, making her at least 55 years old. She’s likely gone through menopause at this point and won’t be having any more calves of her own. In her immediate pod, she travels with an adult female, born sometime around 1982. T122 Centeki is suspected to be one of Wake’s daughters, but that has yet to be confirmed. She was first cataloged alone, hence the mismatched number, but has been seen with Wake’s pod almost exclusively since. This is a bit of odd behaviour, as typically adult female orcas have their own calves they travel with, and leave mom’s side to travel with their offspring. Centeki is at least 39 years old, but could be significantly older. While we may never know why Centeki stays with the T046s and does not have any known offspring of her own, we are always happy to see her amongst the other members of the pod!

It’s also thought that Wake has another daughter who doesn’t match her number, that being T123. T123 Sidney is another whale we see often and she travels with her son Stanley and daughters Lucky and Darcy.

Along with the 2 adult females we believe are Wake’s daughter, and her 3 sons she travels with now, Wake also has had 3 other daughters. Her first Daughter, T46A is no longer with us, but T46B Raksha and T46C both have their own large pods.
Raksha has 5 children, with her eldest already off on her own with her own 2 children. This makes Wake a Great-grandmother to 2 young whales!

Just to recap, in total, Wake has had 6 confirmed offspring, 2 potential other female offspring, with 9 grandchildren between her confirmed daughters, and potentially 4 more grandchildren under T123, and 2 great-grandchildren with T46B.
That's quite the family tree!

Thor

T122, Centeki

Strider

Strider

All photos today were taken by Marine Naturalist Ryan Uslu. We are currently offering 2 tours a day, 10:30 am and 3:30 pm and have 2 different styles of boats to choose from. To book your tour you can do it right through our website, or give us a call.