September 11, 2023, 3:30 - A happy little humpback is spotted "snaking" while the others snack away

Another day, another big dose of Humpback soup! We headed back towards Humpback Land, an area that has been a popular hang-out spot for many of our whales this season. This area once again did not disappoint as we located 8 different humpbacks relatively close together!

Today’s whales were:

Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020), Schooner (BCX1193 calf 2021), Dalmatian (BCY0994), Valiant (BCX1773), Mantis (BCX0936), Twinning (BCX1207), Incognito (BCX2053), and Vivaldi (BCX1704)!

Now that’s a lot of whales to keep track of! Here’s who was hanging out with whom:

• Dalmatian, Neowise, and Valiant were all travelling together

  • Neowise was travelling by himself later that evening

  • Dalmatian and Valiant were seen continuing to travel together later that evening

• Incognito, Mantis, Schooner, Twinning, and Vivaldi were all travelling together

Dalmatian was demonstrating a very interesting feeding technique today known as Snaking. Dalmatian is the first whale we have encountered in our area doing this particular feeding technique. It is possible this may be a taught feeding technique, meaning he may have learned the behaviour from a different whale, and he may be now teaching the other whales in this group how to do it too. It is believed that snaking helps humpbacks to more efficiently sift their food. It is quite bizarre to witness - when a humpback is snaking, its rostrum and peduncle are raised, usually above the surface of the water, while its spine curves down along its back. This is basically the opposite movement of how one usually observes humpbacks travelling and feeding. We know this sounds a bit confusing and is hard to picture, so we have included a YouTube video below that shows this behaviour in action!

After departing our party of humpbacks we made our way over to the White Islets to see what was hanging out on the rocks. We spotted a number of large Steller sea lions either snoozing, scratching, or grumbling away on the rocks. Our Harbour seals were also present today, nestled closer to the inside of the Islets to keep out of the splash. These little guys (sometimes known as ‘rock sausages’) are usually a bit calmer than the sea lions. They tend to just snooze instead of grumbling and fighting.

The Islets were also teeming with birds today, including Double-crested Cormorants, various Gulls, Black Turnstones, and Surfbirds. The White Islets has been a perfect little spot for us to visit this year as it is always jam-packed with tons of different species.

We then turned back towards Nanaimo and started heading towards home port. Today was once again a whale-y great day out on the water!

Photos taken by Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen and Aly Kohlman.

Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Schooner (BCX1193 calf 2021). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Dalmatian (BCY0994). Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Valiant (BCX1773). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Mantis (BCX0936). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Twinning (BCX1207). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Incognito (BCX2053). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Vivaldi (BCX1704). Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A big blow from Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020) waving his pec around. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Dalmatian (BCY0994) beginning to snake - you can see he is beginning to lift his peduncle/tail stock here. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020) going down for a dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Vivaldi (BCX1704) appears to have some skin issues currently. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Schooner (BCX1193 calf 2021)’s unique dorsalletss us ID him even when he doesn’t fluke. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Dalmatian (BCY0994)’s nostrils and rostrum. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Dalmatian (BCY0994)’s dorsal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Valiant (BCX1773)’s scarred-up fluke - can you see how they got their name? Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020) is another whale we can ID in less convenient ways - we can use his top fluke to ID him thanks to the numerous scars. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

This photo of Neowise (BCY0160 calf 2020) is from the same sequence as the above photo, further cementing his ID! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Incognito (BCX2053) has a nearly perfectly black fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A large male Steller sea lion scratching away. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Someone looks grumpy! Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A large male Steller sea lion posing for the camera. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A speedy Harbour Porpoise - these guys are super difficult to photograph! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

Two sleepy Harbour seals perched on a haulout. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A flock of gulls and cormorants at White Islets. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.

A young gull at the White Islets. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.