July 15, 2023, 3:30 - Spending time with the T037As and T065As as well as Humpback Whales
We had another fantastic day on the water on the afternoon of July 15. We had spent the morning with two different pods of orca, the T037As and the T065As, a total of 9 individual whales! We figured this group would be easy to pick up again thanks to the large group size. Two of our vessels headed out in search, and one quickly came across a pair of humpback whales. It was Vanta (BCX1730) and an unknown!
These two were travelling close by to each other, and doing what looked like feeding dives. They were slightly sporadic in their surfacing, meaning that we didn’t get great angles on our photos, making ID a little bit difficult. Lucky for us, Vanta did a final dive and showed us the underside of their fluke, confirming what we already thought through dorsal fins, that it was indeed Vanta. Although the second remains unknown, if we end up finding out who it is we will be sure to update it here.
While our one vessel was looking at Vanta and friend, the other continued their search for those orca from this morning. Our hunch was right, and it wasn’t long before we spotted the T037As and T065As still travelling together. They were doing a typical orca behaviour: travel. It is the most common thing that we see the orca doing. This afternoon it was very slow travel, with two of the whales off on their own getting up to who knows what!
T037A Volker ♀ (1994)
T037A2 Inky ♂ (2009)
T037A3 Spinnaker ♂ (2013)
T037A4 Crinkle ♀ (2015)
T065A Fingers/Artemis ♀ (1986)
T065A2 Ooxjaa ♂ (2004)
T065A3 Amir ♂ (2007)
T065A4 Ellifrit ♀ (2011)
T065A6 Callisto ♀ (2018)
The orca kept travelling slowly inside the Winchelsea Island Archipelago, spending lots of time at the surface, leading to some amazing photos being captured by our onboard Naturalists! You can clearly see all the dorsal markings and saddle patches that we use to identify these individuals.
We stayed with the orca for a little while before we had to leave and search for other wildlife. Once again we saw the sign of whales in the distance and came across a cow-calf pair of humpbacks. It was Graze and her 2023 calf! These two are a great sight to see since it means the humpback whale population is indeed on the rise. We see more and more humpbacks returning to our waters year after year, and Graze is one of our favourites! Not only is she a known mother, but she is a survivor! She sports rake marks on her flukes from an orca attack when she was younger. It’s not as bad as some of the whales that we’ve seen with those scars, but it still shows resilience. Graze is one of the 9 known mothers that have returned to the Salish Sea this year, and hopefully, as time goes on we will keep discovering new moms.
Watching these two travelling together was the perfect end to our whales today and with a brief stop for other wildlife before returning to the Harbour, it was the perfect day.
Please enjoy all the photos below taken by our naturalists Aly Kohlman and Vanessa Vereschehen.
Vanta and our unknown getting ready to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Vanta diving. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Amir’s dorsal fin cutting through the water. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Inky travelling by our vessels. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Fingers / Artemis and her distinctive knobby dorsal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Ooxjaa on the move. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Volker (Left) and Inky (right) traveling together Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Ellifrit (Left) and Fingers / Artemis (Right) playing in the surf in front of two other family members. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Callisto (Left), Fingers / Artemis and unidentified orca behind Artemis! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A tail flick in behind Amir. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Spinnaker’s face sticking out of the water. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Amir going down for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Leaning dorsals of Amir next to one of the smaller orca. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A beautiful fluke! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A pair of bald eagles keeping a watchful eye. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
One of the couple peering down at us. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Graze and her calf surfacing. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A peak at Graze’s flukes! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Graze going down for a dive! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A top view of the calf as they prepare to dive! This behaviour is unusual for young humpbacks since they don’t have the muscles developed yet to raise their tail flukes. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Grazes 2023 calf with her unique black and white patterning. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Graze surfacing agin in the calm waters. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Graze’s 2023 calf fluking next to her! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Pelagic Cormorant calling from the bluffs. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The Cormorant spreading and drying their wings in the sunshine. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A lone cormorant swimming on the surface of the water. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Our Cormorant with their sleek black feathers and distinctive orange face. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A peregrine falcon perched on a branch looking for its next meal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Peregrine Falcon on a fir tree. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A group of Black Oystercatchers are on the move. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
The bald eagle striking a pose. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Did you know bald eagles only get the distinctive “bald” head when they are 5 years old! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Two of the not yet bald “eaglets” found along Gabriola bluffs. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.