March 23rd - T-Party in Howe Sound

Rain or shine the whales are still around, so on this slightly overcast morning a full Kula departed the harbour. As we rounded the top of Gabriola Island and began heading south our captain Rodrigo got word that there was a sighting of Orca in Howe Sound. The Strait was fairly calm so we decided to make the cross and see if we could find the whales who were supposed to be heading from Langdale towards Gibson.
We arrived in Gibson to beautiful flat calm water, as is pretty typical in Howe Sound. With so many islands and the mountains on all sides its not often that we see rough waters here. We slowed slightly and began scanning the waters, looking for blows and dorsals, but there was nothing.
We continued traveling through the Sound, hopeful that the whales had taken a different turn around one of the many islands, and after a little bit more searching our Captain spotted them! Our whales were between Bowyer Island and Bowen Island, fairly well spread out but there were a lot of them. We quickly got our camera out and began snapping photos as the whales were tail slapping, barrel rolling and even breaching!

After just a few photos our Naturalist was fairly confident they had ID’ed T60C, Yelnats. Yelnats is a large bull orca, turning 21 years old this year. His name is a bit of a funny one, but Yelnats spelled backwards is Stanley. This is because Yelnats has a Doppelganger - or a look a like. Stanely is T123A and a year older than Yelnats, but they have nearly identical dorsal fins. The same notch in the same location, how crazy! Below are the catalog photos of the whales that we use to ID them, and as you can see Stanley and Yelnats are very similar. It’s really important with these 2 to get a good photo of the saddle patches for the scaring or other members of the pod to help us ID them

We traveled with these whales along the East Coast of Bowen Island watching them play in the waters as they traveled. We were able to ID members of the T060’s, T090’s, and the T124A’s.

T090 - Eagle, Matriarch (1980)
T090B - Piglet, ♂ (2006)
T090C - Tigger, ♂ (2010)
T090D - Kanga, (2017)

T060 - Panthera, Matriarch, (1980)
T060C - Yelnats, ♂ (2001)
T060D - Onca, ♂ (2004)
T060E - Lynx, ♂ (2008)
T060F - Tigris, ♀ (2012)
T060G - (2019)

T124A - Kittiwake, Matriarch, (1984)
T124A4 - Sabio, ♀ (2010)
T124A4A - (2021)
T124A6 - Kasuun, ♂ (2016)
T124A7 - (2021)

There was plenty of breeching, tail slapping, spy hopping and barrel rolling. Little T090D, 5 year old Kanga was traveling with their older brother Piglet and Yelnats for quite a while. It really showcases how large the boys can be when you see them next to a 5 year old sibling.
It’s obvious these whales were excited to be hanging out together, as often happens with T-parties. T-parties are an excellent way for Orcas from different families to socialize, for matriarchs to share information and for new babies to meet and learn from other whales.

After watching these whales for a little while they came together in a tighter group and that’s when we noticed something interesting. A little orange face appearing over the water surface. This little orange face belongs to a very young whale. The T124A’s welcomed 2 new members in 2021, T124A7 born to Kittiwake in December and T124A4A born some time before that to T214A4, Sabio. Since T124A7 was born in December, it’s likely that this is the little orange face we are seeing as baby orcas can keep their orange colouring for many months after they are born. Seems like Kittiwake is still making the rounds to show off her new baby to the rest of the Bigg’s community.

Young whales are constantly learning from their moms, siblings, and any other whales they encounter. Their brains are sponges, just like human babies, soaking up all the information given to them. Orca’s speak their own language, with each pod having a unique dialect that helps individuals tell each other apart. Babies begin learning the language and their families direct while they are still in their mothers womb, and once they are born their families talk more to them, just like human parents do. Baby orcas even make up their own baby babble just like human babies do! These squishy orange faces have a lot to learn over the next year as they get ready to participate on hunts with the family once they have weaned off moms milk, and if it’s a little girl, she will have years of knowledge to learn from mom before she eventually leads her own pod.

Below are some of the photos taken during the tour by Marine Naturalist Rebeka Pirker.

Piglet (T090B) and Yelnats (T060C) were inseparable during the trip

Kanga (T090D) spent a lot of time with the big boys

Hard to tell who this is, but T090D Kanga was a big camera hog during the trip, so we wouldn’t be surprised if this was Kanga showing off some more

How many whales can you see in this photo?

The newest member of the pod leading the charge!

Happy sleepy Harbour seals

Sea Lions always look like they’re doing yoga

Catalog photo taken from: Photo-identification Catalogue, Population Status, and Distribution of Bigg’s Killer Whales known from Coastal Waters of British Columbia, Canada, Towers et al.

Jilann LechnerMarch 28, 20221 Comment