Leaving the harbour on the morning of July 25th, we figured it was going to be an easy day, we headed over to a pair of humpbacks that were spotted near Entrance Island, only about 10 minutes from home. It was a cow-calf pair, soon identified as Olympus (BCX1057) and her 2023 calf! These two were travelling together, seeming to be travelling unusually fast and on some sort of mission. We followed them, curious about what the task at hand would be. It wasn’t long before we figured it out when a black dorsal fin started to surface among the pair. Orca?

While this behaviour is rather strange, aren’t orcas supposed to be the ones that chase after the humpback and not the other way around? Well, if you will believe us, some humpbacks are known for aggressive behaviour towards orca, and we witnessed Olympus chasing down a massive T-party and harassing the orca back during a tour in 2021!

This behaviour as an adult humpback is usually fine, as they are big enough to defend their young and protect them from the orca, but chasing them down seems like an irresponsible move as a new mother. There is already evidence of an orca attack on this new calf, as rake marks from the orcas teeth can be seen. These usually happen since the best hunting method is pulling the calf under the surface and keeping it down so it eventually drowns. But this wasn’t the case today, as the orca seemed to want nothing to do with the aggressive humpback and they continued their journey north.

We ended up spending some time with the orca as well and IDed them as the T037s, who have been a common sight in our range lately.

T037 Rocky III/Pizzafin ♀ (1979)
T037B Harald ♀ (1998)
T037B1 Lance ♂ (2012)
T037B3 ♀ (2022)

These four were just travelling up the shoreline of Nanaimo. A couple of days before this, the pod had gotten broken up, and their Matriarch, Pizza Fun / Rock III wasn’t seen travelling with them. They stayed in one area for a whole day waiting for their mother/grandmother to return, and were calling out to her all day. Thankfully, they have been reunited and now seem very content travelling in the Strait of Georgia.

After spending some time with the orca we ended up leaving them behind and searching for other wildlife. This included cormorants, Bald Eagles, and even harbour Seals! Our Naturalists Aly Kohlman, Carmen Murphy, and Ella Hilbracht captured some amazing photos during the trip which can all be viewed below.

July 25, 2023, 10:30 - Who's chasing who?

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