June 21st 10:30 AM - Chinook lunge feeding with a friend
Chinook has been reported as being seen as early as 2017 a few times as far north as Cortez Island near Campbell River, and there are reported sightings every year of Chinook overwintering as far west as western Maui, most recently on March 3rd! Today, we caught up with Chinook east of Valdez Island in the open strait.
Humpback whales come to the Salish Sea for one reason: the food. The cold waters of the North Pacific Ocean are incredibly productive and can sustain the high demands of a feeding humpback whales. Typically, males will consume 3000 lbs of seafood every day, while pregnant females will consume as much as 5000 lbs every day. Their favourite food is krill, a small shrimp-like crustation about the size of a paper clip, and 80% of their diet is composed of it. Each individual krill weighs four and a half thousandths of a pound, meaning humpbacks can eat 700,000 to 1 million individual krill every day! Wow! That sounds like a lot, and it is, but krill is one of the most abundant species on the planet, inhabiting open oceans from shallow to deep waters in all the oceans of the world. In fact, the total biomass of krill is one of the largest biomasses of a species on the planet.
The rest of the time, humpbacks eat schooling fish, such as Pacific herring and Pacific Sand Lance, and today Chinook was likely lunging at a school of herring for lunch! It is interesting to see humpbacks feeding near others that are not their own calf. Typically, when humpbacks get back from their 3000-mile migration from their breeding grounds in tropical and subtropical waters they are very hungry. It’s wonderful to see them socializing more and more with others at this time of year.
Also, by this time of year the sea lions have left on their migration to their breeding grounds. The northern Steller sea lions migrate north, while the California sea lions migrate south. On today’s trip, we saw a couple of Steller sea lions that have chosen to stick around, lounging on a buoy, while a few were hauled out and rafted at Entrance Island. The cormorants returned to our area a couple of months ago, and so they are currently sitting on their chalky-blue eggs nestled within their newly built nests and are often seen collecting material to increase their comfort.
Enjoy the photos of wildlife taken by Marine Naturalist Janine!
A very happy Steller Sea Lion on the bell buoy outside of porlier pass!
This sea lion was very orange compared to his buddy on this buoy. Quite interesting!
We ID’d KEY0020 Chinook by their very distinct dorsal fin scarring!
Chinook going for a dive.
Chinook’s friend, whose dorsal was not as distinct. Although we feel as though we have seen this dorsal fin before, we can’t quite find a match.
Some Steller Sea Lions hauled out on Entrance Island.
Quite the cuddle puddle.
This sea lion was doing its best Harbour seal impression for us on the rocks!