June 24th 3:30 PM - T123's outside the harbour
On the afternoon of June 24th, we left the harbour hoping to require our pod of orca from the morning. They made it pretty easy to find them again, as they hadn’t traveled very far and they had decided to get quite active!
We watched the T123s hunting for their dinner, today it was an unfortunate harbour porpoise. We managed to get some pictures of one of the whales throwing the porpoise into the air. After the hunt was over we even got to see the leftovers. Sometimes when our orca finish a hunt there are some things left behind, and we are always shocked at how intact the remains are. Often it’s the lungs, intestines, and sometimes the liver, that are left floating on the surface for the birds. Stanley was pretty excited about the hunt, tail slapping the water, cartwheeling and breeching to display his excitement.
As with any successful hunt, the family shared their meal and took a break from travel to mingle and socialize a bit afterward.
The youngest member, T123D Darcy, was practicing her spy-hopping near her brother Stanley when she wasn’t swimming with her mom and sister Lucky.
37 year old Sidney travels with her family, 22 year old Stanley, 10 year old Lucky, and 4 year old Darcy. Lucky is quickly approaching reproductive age for female orca so it won’t be long before Sidney, hopefully, becomes a grandmother! Sidney herself still has a few years left to produce more calves if she chooses. Females tend to produce a single calf every 3-5 years on average and with Darcy being 4 this year we could see new members of the pod any time now.
After our whales began traveling again we left them to find some seals and sea lions near Entrance Island and even got to see a juvenile bald eagle soaring above.
Enjoy the photos of our wildlife taken by marine naturalist Rebecca Stirling below.
T123A Stanley tail slapping after the hunt.
What a show of power! This harbour porpoise never stood a chance.
Look at the air time this hit got! Even though it looks small in comparison to the orca this porpoise would be about 1.5m long if it was an adult and weigh over 50kg!
Stanley celebrating the hunt by doing a big cartwheel!
We weren’t the only ones looking for leftovers.
T123 Sidney.
The leftovers from the hunt!
The air in the lungs is why it stayed at the surface.
T123D Darcy.
Darcy and Sidney surfacing together when they started travelling.
Sidney, Lucky, and Darcy.
Darcy doing a spy hop next to her big brother, Stanley!
Another show of excitement post-hunt, a tail up in the air!
Darcy looking above the water while traveling with her mom and sister.
Sidney, Lucky, and Darcy travelling close together.
Stanley travelling solo in front of the Coastal Mountains.
A harbor seal hauled out enjoying the sunshine.
A Steller Sea Lion giving themselves a good scratch.
