June 19, 2023 10:30 - The T046Bs and T085s have a party

What a day! We began with a trip south towards the southern end of Penelakut Island within the Gulf Islands. This morning was filled with a very playful and energetic T-party of the following transient orcas:

T046B Raksha ♀ (1988)
T046B2 Akela ♀ (2008)
T046B3 Sedna ♀ (2011)
T046B4 Quiver ♀ (2013)
T046B6 Sol ♀ (2019)
T046B7 (2023)

T085 Eve ♀ (~1977)
T085B Ali ♂ (1995)
T085D Findlay (2014)

A T-party occurs when orcas from different family pods spend time together hunting, playing or mating and sometimes all three actions will be on the agenda for the day. Today we saw the T046B matriline and the T085 matriline spending time together. Each pod is led by their matriarchs, the eldest female and mother of the group. T046B Raksha had five of her children with her today: T046B2 Akela, T046B3 Sedna, T046B4 Quiver, T046B6 Sol and her new 2023 calf T046B7. T085 Eve had two of her children with her today: T085B Ali and T085D Findlay. Female orcas reach sexual maturity at about 10-13 years old, having their first calf around this time. Male orcas will reach sexual maturity around this time as well and will mate with females of a different pod than their own when they have a t-party such as today. There is a very good chance that T085B Ali was mating with one or more of T046B Raksha’s daughters while spending time together. The gestation period for orcas is 16-18 months and females generally have a calf every 3-5 years. Once females are old enough to have their first calf they may start their own pod, though many stay with their mothers just a little bit longer to get help in teaching their calf all there is to know about the ways of their language and hunting within their family’s pod. Each individual pod has a slightly different and unique dialect from other family pods, so the calves need time to learn their pod’s dialect before they can communicate effectively with others within their own family.

T046B7 was only born earlier this year and has a lot to learn, but today was a great learning day and a great way to blow off steam after a successful hunt. During the hunt, today’s party was seen porpoising and travelling very fast to follow through with their hunt and though we couldn’t see anything at the surface, it seemed that they were successful. Tail slaps, spy-hops and breaches were among some of the celebratory acts that were seen on tour today, which are often viewed as energetic displays after a successful hunt. Transient orcas have a preference for hunting harbour seals, as stated by researchers, though they are also known to hunt harbour porpoises and smaller sea lions. On rare occasions, transient orcas are also known to go after baby humpback whales and larger sea lions. A lot of the scarring that you may see on the dorsal fin of an orca is likely from a hunt with a larger sea lion and the sea lion fought back with its large canines.

Male Steller sea lions can reach up to 2200 lbs and the females can reach up to 800 lbs. Today at Stinky Rock, everyone’s favourite stinky sea lion, Stinky Steve, was present in his usual place at the top of the rock. Steve was surrounded by much smaller females and an occasional juvenile male that isn’t yet seen as a threat. Stinky Steve and the other sea lions have begun to exhibit their mating behaviour, which occurs when a dominant male such as Steve will hold down his mating rock with 10-16 females surrounding him. Steve will get a chance to mate with all the females around him at some point, upon their return to Alaska or Northern BC for mating. If any other large males try to challenge him, Steve will fight them until they back down or until one of them dies, in which case the victorious male will own the mating rock. No other males in the area compare to the size of Steve and he is likely going to be the dominant male of the season when they head back to Alaska. Today he had one challenger that did not put up much of a fight. Last year, the Steller sea lions that were mature enough to breed headed to Alaska and Northern BC around the beginning of July so we aren’t expecting Stinky Steve and his ladies to stick around for too much longer.

Harbour seals were also spotted today, giving us their usual quiet wide-eyed stares. It’s rare that we will hear noises coming from harbour seals, but this season in particular we’ve been hearing a lot more noise than usual from them. It can be comparable to the noise that Steller sea lions make, a sort of growl noise, with a bit of a frog croak in there as well.

A trio of river otters were also spotted on Stinky Rock, which is a first for us. River otters weren’t always living far away from rivers. Before the commercial fur trade wiped out the sea otters in the late 19th century, river otters were mainly present in the mouth of rivers or in very sheltered harbour areas. Since the decline of sea otters, river otters have taken over by occupying more feeding areas further away from rivers. River otters don’t eat the same foods as sea otters do, as they mainly eat smaller fish, crustaceans and even insects, whereas sea otters eat shellfish and sea urchins. The absence of sea otters has led to a great abundance of sea urchins in the waters of the Salish Sea and surrounding areas, greatly affecting the abundance of the kelp forest ecosystems as sea urchins have a preference for feeding on nutrient-rich kelp. Luckily there is hope, as sea otters have been reintroduced on Haida Gwaii, Northern Vancouver Island and Tofino and they are being shown to have many positive impacts on the environment, especially the kelp forest ecosystems. Slowly, the sea otters are making their way south down Vancouver Island and we are hoping that in the next few years, we will see a sea otter or two near Nanaimo.

Photos on this day were taken by Marine Naturalists Des Poier and Aly Kohlman.

Belly shot - did you know you can sex an orca with a belly photo like this one? This whale is female because of the presence of mammary slits (small black areas on either side of the genital slit). Photo by Des Poier.

Tiny baby breach from T046B7! Photo by Des Poier.

(B)reach for the sky! Photo by Des Poier.

All the whales were so active today! Photo by Des Poier.

T046B Raksha and her youngest calf T046B7. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A family of River otters. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A Bald Eagle with lunch! Photo by Des Poier.

Jilann LechnerJune 19, 2023WhalesComment