June 14, 2023 3:30 - Double Species Day in the Strait of Georgia!

The day began with a trip to Apex, which is right at the border of Canada and the US, near the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. We witnessed a T-party with a total of 5 transient orca. Whales included in this afternoon’s T-party were:

T046B1 Tread ♀ (2003)
T046B1A Tsakani ♀ (2015)
T046B1C (2022)

T046C2 Sam ♀ (1994)

T087 Harbeson ♂ (~1962)

It was a wide variety of whales today, with some interesting family ties in our whale party today. A T-party occurs when whales from multiple different pods spend time together, often hunting and playing with one another. A T-party is also the time when transient orcas will mate with members of other pods.
T046C2 Sam belongs to the pod known as the T046Cs, which were spotted by us for the first time on June 9th. T046C2 Sam is known to travel outside of her pod most of the time. It is likely that she does this because of an incident that occurred in 2013 when she was only four years old. T046C2 Sam was trapped within a small bay with a narrow entrance on the central coast of BC for three weeks until researchers were able to entice Sam to exit the bay during high tide using transient orca vocalizations. Researchers stayed with her for a few days after this incident to make sure that she was able to reunite with her family. Since then, she doesn’t appear to travel with her family. Our best guess is that Sam is quite traumatized from that event and her family was nowhere in sight, so she likely holds a bit of a grudge and prefers to not travel with them anymore. Although she doesn’t travel with her family, Sam’s trauma sure hasn’t stopped her from being an energetic and social whale.
T046B2 Sam was seen today with her first cousin T046B1 Tread and her children T046B1A Tsakani and T046B1C (2022 calf). T046B1 Tread was also the mother of T046B1B Tl’uk who had a rare immunodeficiency disorder known as Chédiak-Higashi syndrome that causes paler pigmentation of the skin. Sadly, he has been presumed deceased for a few years now. T087 Harbeson was also part of the T-party today, who is often a favourite orca of many. Since his mother T088 Spokane passed away in 2011, T087 Harbeson joins any pod that he pleases and we’re sure glad he decided to join today’s pods.

We also saw humpbacks on our way back! Double Species trips are always a blast. As we travelled back across the Strait of Georgia, we stopped off near Porlier Pass to find not one, but two backs!

Today’s humpback whales spotted were ID’d as:

Windy (BCY0893) and Kelpie (KEZ0009)!

Windy and Kelpie are both whales that we have previously seen during tours this year. Throughout the summer and early fall, we will be seeing more and more humpbacks that we recognize, as they have begun to come back up here from their warm water breeding grounds. Windy is known to spend time in Hawaii during the breeding season, however, it’s still unknown where Kelpie goes during the winter. Whales we see in the Salish Sea typically spend their winters in Mexico, Hawaii or Baja and they come back here to feed during the late spring to late fall. They eat up to 3000 lbs of food each day that they are here, primarily made up of small fish, krill and plankton.

Stinky Rock next to Valdes Island was a hit, with the regular crowd of Steller sea lions resting on their haul out. Sea lions are a common prey item of transient orca, though they tend to fight back against orcas, leading to scarring on the bodies and dorsal fins of orcas. This might make it easier for naturalists to identify a particular whale if it has a unique scar on its dorsal.

Photos were taken by Marine Naturalists Val Watson and Cheyenne Brewster.

T046B1 Tread and her youngest T046B1C. Photo by Val Watson.

T046B1A Tsakani and T046C2 Sam. Photo by Val Watson.

T087 Harbeson and T046C2 Sam. Photo by Val Watson.

T046B1 Tread and her bouncing baby T046B1C. Photo by Val Watson.

Look at that gnarly eyepatch scratch on T046B1 Tread! Photo by Val Watson.

T046B1 Tread and T046B1C. Photo by Val Watson.

Left to right: T046B1 Tread, T046B1A Tsakani, and T046B1C. Photo by Val Watson.

T046B1A Tsakani and her mother T046B1 Tread. Photo by Val Watson.

T046B1 Tread with her cousin T046C2 Sam behind her. Photo by Val Watson.

Kelpie (KEZ0009) and Windy (BCY0893). Photo by Val Watson.

Windy (BCY0893) being uncooperative - this was our best fluke from the day. Photo by Val Watson.

Our Semi-Covered vessel, Kula. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Jilann LechnerJune 14, 2023WhalesComment