Our tour this morning consisted of two different dynamic duos of humpback whales and a solo humpback whale. This morning we saw the following humpbacks:

Arial (BCY0767), Geometry (BCX0338), Nuage/Beak (BCX1606), Sherwina (BCY0961), and Valiant (BCX1773)!

Halibut Bank in the Strait of Georgia has been a great area for spotting humpback whales this summer season. Today, we had no trouble spotting humpbacks out there, as we managed to see five different humpback whales.

We got to see some very energetic behaviour from our humpback whales. Breaching, pec-slapping and tail-slapping were all behaviours seen today. We had two different duos performing these behaviours near one another. Sherwina and Arial were together and pec-slapping and breaching on numerous occasions, while Valiant and Geometry were one kilometer away doing the same.

Humpback whales are thought to splash their bodies against the water mainly for communication. There seemed to be quite a lot of communication between our two groups today, leading us to think: Why were they communicating and what were they saying?

Humpback whales are migratory. Every year, humpbacks travel from their warm water breeding grounds to their feeding grounds in the Salish Sea. Humpbacks found in the Salish Sea are mainly part of the Hawaii or Mexico breeding population, with an occasional whale from the Baja population. Geometry, Sherwina and Arial are all part of the Hawaii breeding population, while Valiant has been spotted in Baja in the winter. It is unknown where Beak/Nuage likes to spend their winters.

Once the water temperature gets warmer and the days get longer, the humpbacks make their way back to the Salish Sea where they eat as much as they can. Humpback whales eat about 3000 lbs of food every day. Humpback whales are part of the baleen whale family. Humpback whales have baleen plates lining their top jaw that act as a filter to keep their food inside their mouths after they have taken a big mouthful of water.

While we don’t know where Beak spends their winters, we do know that they are the 2014 calf of a female known as Big Mama. Big Mama is a famous humpback whale if you are a whale enthusiast within the Salish Sea, as she was one of the first humpback whales to return to the Strait of Georgia after the end of whaling in Canada in the 70s. Big Mama was first spotted in 1997. Many humpbacks that we see on our tours are the children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Big Mama; She has a total of 7 children, 4 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. We will be talking about Big Mama and the legacy she has left for years to come, as she continues to bring her calves back to the Strait of Georgia every 2-4 years.

Another humpback we saw today was Sherwina, who is a known female and is estimated to be about 7 years old now. Sherwina had her first calf in 2021. Bringing a humpback whale calf back from the breeding grounds to the feeding grounds can be a very dangerous journey. Shipping vessels, smaller vessels and marine mammal-eating orcas are present within the waters along the coast of western North America. This can create problems for baby humpback whales, which are small and clumsy and have a lot to learn when it comes to avoiding vessels and are so small that they are often hunted by orcas.

Photos from this morning’s tour were taken by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Vanessa Vereschahen and Carmen Murphy.