September 9th 10:30 AM - Transient Orca! T100s, T124A4s, and T018s

It was another great day to head out on the water on search of whales! Today we didn’t have to go far, since the T100’s and T124A4’s were travelling together just east of Gabriola. These two pods consist of the following members:

T100’s
T100 Hutchins (1979)
T100C Laurel (2002)
T100E Tharaya (2009)
T100F Estrella (2014)

T124A4’s
T124A4 Sabio (2010)
T124A4A (2021)

Sabio seems to be jumping from pod to pod this year, hardly ever being seen by herself, and not often spending more than a week or two with one group. As we watched them it seemed like they may have been hunting, since they were surfacing sporadically, and doing some surface activity! They were heading southeast as they travelled, slowly making their way further off the shoreline of Gabriola Island.

After we watched these two pods travelling together our hour was up so we left in search of other wildlife. We found some seals and other wildlife along the way and one boat started to head back to the harbour. The other boat ended up running into a second group of orca as they were also heading to the harbour. We quickly recognized them as the T018s, one of our favourite pods! This pod consists of four members:

T018’s
T018 Esperanza (1955)
T019 Nootka (1965)
T019B Galiano (1995)
T019C Spouter (2001)

These whales were also hunting them we found them and doing some surface behaviours such as spy hopping, breaching, and tail lobbing. They stopped the hunt shortly after we arrived and continued travelling and we had to leave them to return to the dock.

There were plenty of great photos captured by naturalists Janine Van Der Linden and Vanessa Vereschahen during the trip that you can see below.

Tail slap! Photo by Janine Van Der Linden.

Galiano (T019B) spyhopping. Photo by Janine Van Der Linden.

Spouter (T019C). Photo by Janine Van Der Linden.

Nootka (T019). Photo by Janine Van Der Linden.

Laurel (T100C). Photo by Janine Van Der Linden.

Hutchins (T100). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Tail splash! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Laurel (T100C). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Left to right: T124A4A and Sabio (T124A4). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Sabio (T124A4). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Estrella (T100F). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Turkey Vulture. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Jilann LechnerSeptember 17, 20221 Comment