June 15th 3:30 PM - Strike the Humpback

We were able to relocate our lone Humpback whale, Strike, still hanging out around Neck Point this afternoon.

Strike was still doing lots of feeding dives as they patrolled around Neck point this evening. Strike was confirmed as a female last year when she returned to the Salish Sea with a calf in tow. This year she appears to be back solo, which isn’t surprising. Female humpbacks typically produce a single calf every 2-5 years once they begin reproducing. Strike isn’t with a calf this year, but there’s a chance she could be pregnant and may return next year with another calf, all we can do is cross our fingers and wait!

Regardless of whether or not she is carrying another calf right now, she’s here with an important mission. Eat, eat and eat! She needs to consume nearly 3000 lbs of food per day to put on weight for her migration. If strike is pregnant, she’ll need to consume nearly 4-5000 lbs of food in order to build up enough energy stores for herself, carry her calf to term, and then begin providing enough milk for her calf while still in the breeding grounds. She’ll need to be nice and plump before she leaves our waters, even if she isn’t carrying a calf with her.

After watching Strike fluking along the Nanaimo shores we stopped in at Entrance Island to see some Steller sea lions and Pacific harbour seals before returning to harbour.

The afternoon photos were taken by Marine Naturalist Janine Van Der Linden.