June 28th 3:30 PM - T36As and T099s having a blast!
During our afternoon trip on June 28th, we had a report of orca that had travelled into our range, so we headed right in that direction! From Nanaimo, we headed south passing through Dodd Narrows, Stuart Channel, Trincomali Channel, and out Porlier pass and down the east side of Galiano.
Off Galiano Island, we found a large group of Orca travelling north together! These animals were very active as we watched them with lots of tail slaps, breaching, and spy-hopping. All this activity is common to see in large groups of orca, which is called a T-party.
The two pods that we IDed for from our photos were the T099s and T036As. These two pods would make a total of ten whales, if all the members of the pod were present during this interaction. You can see the group composition below:
T099s
T099 Bella
T099B Holly
T099C Barakat
T099D
T099E
T036As
T036A Leland
T036A1 Tierna
T036A2 Kailas
T036A3 Storm/Mike III
T036A5
Lucky for us this group has a couple of very easy-to-recognize individuals, namely Holly and Tierna. They both have at least one distinct notch missing from their dorsal fin which is obvious in photos. These notches and scars are what we use to determine who is who on the water. IDing our whales is not only important for us to be able to tell people who the whales are that we are looking at, but we also share our sightings with researchers to be able to track population numbers and distribution. Having an accurate idea of who was actually there is very helpful for these purposes.
After spending time with these frolicking whales we left them to continue socializing and went to look for other wildlife! We ended up stopping at the Gabriola Bluffs to enjoy watching some of the birds that call the cliffside home. It was a beautiful day filled with tons of wildlife! Please enjoy the photos from the trip below, taken by Janine Van Der Linden.
Tail lob!
This is likely one of the young members of T036As or T099s who was born last year.
Breaching!
Here is one of our easy to ID whales, T099B Holly!
If you’re really skilled you can ID a whale based off their tail flukes since they also have unique scarring.
One of the young whales breaching with excitement!
Each pod has a calf from 2021 so this could be either of those! Notice the slightly orange colouration? That’s due to the calf not having as thick a blubber layer, so their blood vessels are more visible through their skin!
Spy hop!
Wowee! Such a big splash from a tail lob!
Two harbour seals near a regular haul-out site in the flat top islands.
We have two species of cormorants in this picture! We have a double-crested on the left and two pelagic on the right.
A gull also uses the bluffs as a resting place.