October 28, 2023 - FIVE different orca matrilines in one day (plus some humpbacks too)
We’ve had some super good weather this October, and today was equally as beautiful. The sun was shining as we departed from the harbour. Our plan for today was to head to an area we lovingly refer to as ‘Humpback Land’ - an area on the east side of the Strait of Georgia where a lot of our humpbacks have been congregating in the last few weeks. Luck was on our side today as we found 4 humpbacks near Sechelt.
Our first Humpback of the day was ID’d as Fader (BCY0195). Fader seemed extra excited today and was seen head standing (having their tail up and out of the air and holding it like that), pectoral slapping (slapping the pecs or side fins on the surface of the water), and Moonwalking, also known as Tail First surfacing. This is a very odd-looking behaviour where the whale surfaces backwards, having their blowholes come up last. It is unknown why whales moonwalk, but it sure is cool to witness!
After about 20 minutes Fader started to head over to another group of humpbacks. The new 3 humpbacks were identified as Arial (BCY0767), Magpie (BCY1124), and Scrimmage (BCZ0488). Fader continued to moonwalk, while the other 3 were fluking and trumpeting. Scrimmage appeared to get excited by the shenanigans Fader was doing and ended up doing a headstand too!
After our fun Humpback encounter we headed out to see what else we could find. We got word from one of the other whale-watching companies in the area that orca had been located near Bowen Island, just a short trip away from where we were! We excitedly headed towards the sighting where we were shocked to find not 1, not 2, not even 3 pods of Bigg’s orca… but 5 different pods! It is very rare to see this many different groups all together so this was a super incredible sight!
The T-party, or gathering of multiple Transient/Bigg’s orca pods, consisted of 19 different whales:
T034 Grace ♀ (≤ 1969)
T034A Pachamama ♀ (2007)
T034B Sonder (2017)
T035A Lester ♀ (1998)
T035A1 Opal ♀ (2010)
T035A2 Topaz (2013)
T035A3 Garnet (2018)
T035A4 ♂ (2022)
T036 Flapjack ♀ (≤ 1970)
T036B Tattertip ♀ (1998)
T036B1 Bhotia (2009)
T036B2 Greenfelder (2022)
T036B3 Chip ♂ (2018)
T037 Rocky III ♀ (1979)
T037B Harald ♀ (1998)
T037B1 Lance ♂ (2012)
T037B3 (2022)
T038A Dana ♀ (2000)
T038A2 (2020)
These whales were very busy partying when we approached. Some of the party members were busily hunting, while others were breaching, porpoising, tail slapping, and doing close passes of the boats. The younger whales of this party were acting extra excited and there were multiple times when the young ones would be seen launching themselves into the air while travelling alongside their pod members.
While all this was going on, our open boat Cascadia also saw a group of 4 Humpbacks approach the scene. These whales appeared to be quite agitated and were heard trumpeting as they quickly travelled by. Humpbacks and orca do not get along, and in the previous couple of years, we have had a handful of encounters where Humpbacks have been seen charging towards orca, possibly to try and scare them off. None of the humpbacks appeared to want to fight today though, they just made their presence known to the orca. One of these Humpbacks was ID’d as Dandelion (BCY1107).
After departing our super fun T-party, we started to make our way back towards Nanaimo. Our Semi-covered boat Kula got extra lucky along the way and was able to locate 2 more humpbacks! These whales were ID’d as the famous Big Momma (BCY0324) and young Harpy (BCY0458 calf 2020). These two were happily pec-slapping and fluking away. It was starting to get late in the day at this point, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to our home port after another successful day out on the water.
Photos by Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen and Des Poier.
BCY0195 Fader’s funky fluke. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
BCY1124 Magpie and BCY0767 Arial traveling side-by-side. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
BCZ0488 Scrimmage beginning to dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
BCY1107 Dandelion travelling - while they did not fluke, their dorsal is unique enough to ID from. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
BCY1124 Magpie fluking - if you look carefully, you can spot a pinkish spot on the surface of the water. That is humpback poop! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
BCZ0488 Scrimmage doing a headstand. Photo by Des Poier.
BCZ0488 Scrimmage gracefully re-entering the water. Photo by Des Poier.
Magpie wasn’t the only whale spotted mid-poop today either - apparently BCZ0488 Scrimmage was too! Photo by Des Poier.
BCY0767 Arial’s fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
A perfect fluke from BCY0324 Big Momma. Photo by Des Poier.
A not-as-perfect but equally beautiful fluke from BCY0458 calf 2020 Harpy. Photo by Des Poier.
T036B2 Greenfelder and her mother T036B Tattertip. Photo by Des Poier.
T037 Rocky III’s perfect triangle dorsal. Photo by Des Poier.
T035A4, T035A Lester, and another. Photo by Des Poier.
T036B Tattertip with a friend beside her. Photo by Des Poier.
T037A4 launched themselves out of the water, with T037 Rocky III and T036 Flapjack beside them. Photo by Des Poier.
Breach for the sky! Photo by Des Poier.
T036B1 Bhotia up close. Photo by Des Poier.
T036B2 Greenfelder with her very scratched saddlepatch. Photo by Des Poier.
T038A Dana beside a friend. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T034 Grace from behind. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T035A4 travelling closely with their mother T035A Lester. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T037A4 porpoising along. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T038A Dana - she is one of the easier-to-ID females of the Bigg’s population due to her distinct white patch on her left side, as seen here. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A cute little fluke from one of the party members. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A beautiful fluke-fall (fluke waterfall). Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T035A Lester - another lovely lady with a distinct dorsal! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T034B Sonder charging ahead. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A curious Harbour seal. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A winter plumage Bonaparte’s gull. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
An up-close look at a juvenile Gull’s plumage. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
An Ancient Murrelet. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A puffed-up Great Blue Heron. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.