July 24, 2023 - Playing in the waves
It was a classic west coast day leaving the harbour on July 24th. There were lots of reports of whales not too far outside of Nanaimo, so we headed out into the Strait of Georgia to see if we could find them!
Rocking through the waves it didn’t take us too long before we saw it in the distance, a blow! We headed in that direction and were greeted with the lumped back of a humpback whale! Once they decided it was time to dive they lifted their tail high into the air, revealing the white underside which let us know exactly who we were looking at: Anvil BCZ0410!
Anvil has been spending a lot of her time seemingly just outside Nanaimo, being seen feeding in large circles in the waters off Northern Nanaimo. There must be lots of good food for her there! The food that they are after is very small, composed of mostly Krill and small schooling fish. This means that they have to eat a massive number of these little critters in a single day.
But feeding isn’t what we got to witness today, instead, it seems like anvils belly was nice and full, filling her with energy! She breached out of the water multiple times and then started getting slap-happy, slamming her long pectoral fins onto the surface of the water, making a loud whack every time! Getting to see this level of surface activity is amazing since it takes a giant amount of energy to accomplish. An adult whale like Anvil will expend the energy in one breach that it would take for a human to run a marathon! That’s a whole lot of krill to exchange!
Although watching Anvil and her Acrobatics was fantastic, we still have to stick to our time limits to reduce our impact on the animals, so we left her to her playful activity and headed out to see what other wildlife might be lurking just around the corner.
Just around the corner in this case lead us to Snake Island where we saw some Harbour Seals! Although there isn’t any evidence of it, there were plenty of rock sausages on the rocky shoreline hauled out on the rocks.
It’s pupping season for the Harbour Seals, so we were even lucky enough to see some little babies in the mix! After the seals we headed towards Gabriola Island, which is where we saw cormorants, Eagles, and even a couple of Turkey Vultures!
After a quick detour to Dodd Narrows to show off the powerful currents and amazing scenery, we headed back into the Harbour. What a great (although wet) day! Our Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Carmen Murphy, and Ella Hillbrecht captured some amazing moments from the tour which can be viewed below!
Anvil with a back dive out of the water. Photo by Carmen Murphy
Anvil has a very white fluke. This is one of the ways we ID her. Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Anvil playing in the waves. Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Do you see the bump on Anvil? That’s from a satellite tag being attached to her at one point. Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Anvil going for a deep dive. Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Look at the power from that pectoral fin! Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Do you see the barnacles on her fin? Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Did you notice that one side of her pectoral fin is black while the ventral side is white? Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Did you know a humpbacks pectoral fin can be 1/3rd the length of their body? Photo by Ella Hillbrecht
Do you see the circle on the pectoral fin? That’s scaring from where a barnacle was once attached. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
This is the side of Anvils fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
An eagle landing on a tree. Photo by Carmen Murphy
2 adult eagles sitting on the branch. Photo by Carmen Murphy
A juvenile bald eagle flying in the air. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Cormorants nesting on the Gabriola bluffs. Photo by Carmen Murphy
The cormorant chicks are outgrowing the nest. Photo by Ella Hillbrecht