All along the East shore of our Gulf islands is a steep drop-off. These natural shelves are where small fish, plankton, and krill gather throughout the summer. This also happens to be where we frequently find our humpbacks traveling and feeding. Today we stopped just south of Porlier Pass along Galiano Islands north east shore where Big Mama (BCY0324) and her 2022 male calf were hanging out. Big Mama was teaching her new baby boy a very interesting feeding technique - lunge feeding! In previous years it was uncommon for us to see lunge feeding in our area. A lot of our humpbacks tend to feed slowly (and fairly lazily) - coming up to the surface for a breath, before diving deep down and repeating the process. Feeding at the surface was not a common sight for us… until this year!

Humpbacks have many different feeding techniques. Lunge feeding, trap feeding, flick feeding, bubble-net feeding, and who knows how many more! Some of these techniques are relatively new, or under-studied so we don’t know much about them.

Lunge feeding is a fairly common technique amongst humpbacks, where they dive deep below their food, which tends to be small schooling fish, plankton and krill, and then surface quickly with their mouths open. They engulf as much water as possible, expanding the ventral pleats (the grooves along the underside of their mouths) to hold significant volumes of sea water. As they surface they close their mouths, trapping the water behind their baleen plates, and then they push the water through those plates to sieve their food. This action happens incredibly fast and with no warning so it is very difficult to get photos of the event. In the photos from our tours today we were able to catch the end of the feedings, where Big Mama was pushing the water out through her baleen. We’ve even seen the babies practicing this method! Though the youngsters are likely still relying on moms’ rich milk for nutrients, they are certainly practicing the techniques and maybe even trying solid foods at this point.

We are seeing multiple cow and calf pairs displaying magnificent lunge feeding techniques at our ocean’s surface right now. Big Mama and her new calf aren’t the only 2 that have been showing off their feeding strategies. We’ve also seen Corona (KEX0022) and her 2022 calf lunge feeding, and Neowise, Heather’s 2020 male calf, was spotted popping up like a popcorn kernel just a few days prior near Tsawwassen.

Photos by Marine Naturalists Val Watson and Rebeka Pirker.

Nanaimo Vancouver Island Whale Watch Salish Sea PNW Pacific North West Humpback HB Humpback Calf 2022 Big Mama BCY0324 — Big Mama’s calf. 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

Bubble Net Feeding

Bubble-net feeding was documented off the north end of Vancouver Island fairly recently. This method involves whales circling and blowing bubbles from their blow-hole slowly shrinking the size of the circle of bubbles. This net of bubbles reflects sunlight and confuses the fish, forcing them to gather in a very tight ball in the centre. Once the net is formed a humpback dives down and sounds a feeding call, startling the fish towards the surface and letting the other humpbacks know it’s time to feed! They then take turns diving up through the column lunge feeding as a group. This method is typically done in groups, the larger the group the bigger the net and the more food they can get. However, we have seen individuals doing this method solo. When solo, they will bubble net in a straight line, cutting fish off as they swim and then double back to lunge feed against the wall of bubbles.
This method was especially cool to see and hear about because of how humpbacks learned it. Humpbacks learn their feeding techniques from their moms and other whales, it’s not ingrained or instinctual. This means that a humpback, or small group of them, witness another whale performing this technique and taught themselves to do it. Since then they’ve been teaching other humpbacks throughout the Salish Sea. Last year we were witness to a whale, Prowler, teaching a young whale, Valiant, how to bubble net feed near Gabriola Island. This is a perfect example of just how smart these animals are.

Big Mama (BCY0324) lunge feeding. 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

Nanaimo Vancouver Island Whale Watch Salish Sea PNW Pacific North West Humpback HB Humpback Calf 2022 Big Mama BCY0324 Lunge feeding — Big Mama (BCY0324) lunge feeding. 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

Big Mama (BCY0324). 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

Trap Feeding

Another interesting method of feeding is called trap feeding. Depending on the source of information there are a few different methods that fall under this category. One method of trap feeding is where the whales will lay motionless at the surface with their mouths open, like a Venus fly trap, waiting for fish to take cover inside. The fish gather, hiding from other predators - namely birds - and as soon as there is a good mouth full, the whale closes up, pushing excess water out through the baleen plates and swallowing an easy and tasty meal.

The other common type of trap feeding we read about is a bit more involved. Humpbacks of the North Pacific tend to be a dark grey on their dorsal side (top) and white or mottled on the ventral side (bottom). Humpbacks have learned how to use this change in coloration to their advantage. While slowly moving through the water, either horizontally or vertically, humpbacks will open their mouths and use their pectoral fins like walls to funnel fish into their mouth. Not only do the fins guide the fish right into their mouths, but humpbacks will rotate their fins, flashing the bright whites of the undersides to reflect the sunlight near the surface and blind the fish, startling more of them right into their waiting mouths! A fairly lazy feeding method but in the right conditions can be very successful.

Big Mama (BCY0324)’s fluke. 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

As usual, we stopped in with our Steller sea lions at the UM buoy off the Flat top islands. These sea lions were extra sleepy today and didn’t seem too interested in us. While most of the sellers are slowly making their way north for the start of the breeding season, a small group has taken over the buoy once again. We can clearly see the tiny ears they have, key characteristics of sea lions which belong to the “eared-seal” family. Yes, sea lions are technically seals, but not true seals! True seals do not have these adorable external ear flaps.

Now kiss! 10:30am tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

Nanaimo Vancouver Island Whale Watch Salish Sea PNW Pacific North West Pacific Harbour Seal — 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

Ah our true seals! Unlike the sea lions, Pacific harbour seals are true seals, BC’s only true seal to be exact! These adorable little water pups are covered in dense fur which keeps them warm, and unlike our sea lions, are designed to be in the water, not on land. They do still venture to the rocky shores to relax but are often found floating in the water. They lack external ears, have fused pelvic bones so they can’t walk on land as the sea lions do, and their eyesight is specifically designed for seeing underwater not above. This curious little seal was watching us as we watched him, sitting near the surface and flaring his nostrils. We try not to take too many photos of our seals, to save our office staff from going through so many, but it’s hard to hold back when they look this cute!

Moon jellies! 3:30pm tour. Photo by Beka Pirker.

The jellyfish have been showing up in greater numbers, especially through Dodd Narrows and along the Gabriola Bluffs. While stopped to watch the birds along Gabriola we had a smack of Moon jellyfish drift by. A group of jellyfish is called a “smack”! These little translucent jellies ranged in size from a penny to palm-sized and were drifting in the currents all around the boat.

We’re down to the last few California sea lions of the season! These guys were resting on the logs near Harmac pulp mill, enjoying the brief moments of sunshine. They were pretty sleepy but still had lots to say to us.

June 11th - Big Mama teaching her calf to lunge feed!

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