July 27, 2023, 10:30 - Anvil, BCY1198 (a new-to-us whale!), Dalmatian, and Holey Moley
Another day out on the Salish Sea, or Humpback Land as we have been affectionately calling it the last few weeks. Our Humpback migration is in full swing as they make their way to us from their breeding grounds. The Humpbacks that arrive here travel over 5000 kms to feed in our waters and come from Central America, Hawaii and Mexico.
Today we spotted 4 different humpbacks, including:
Anvil (BCZ0410), BCY1198, Dalmatian (BCY0994), and Holey Moley (BCX0870 calf 2018)!
When they get here their main focus is food, as they will have been fasting for up to 6 months, living off the fat reserves they built up feeding the previous season. They come to us hungry and tired, ready to engulf 3000 to 5000 pounds of food per day! The food they are here for is krill, plankton and the smaller schooling fish. The Humpbacks get to 50 feet and 80,000 pounds, but why is their food so tiny? Even though these whales are impressively large, their throats are not too much bigger than our own! They can only swallow about the size of a grapefruit. When they eat they can expand those mouths fitting around 200 bathtubs full of water into them, that water hopefully all full of the prey they are hungry for then gets pushed out with the tongue through the baleen that hangs down from the upper jaw filtering the small prey and trapping it so the Humpback can take that tongue and lick the prey off and swallow. Just that tongue is the size of a small car! So huge mouths, giant tongues, but small throats and prey! Isn’t nature fascinating?!
One of our whales spotted today, BCY1198, is a new-to-us whale - meaning we had never seen them before this season. It is always interesting to see what new faces (or in this case, flukes) we see from year to year!
After visiting our humpbacks we set off in search of other wildlife. Our seals and sea lions were busy snoozing away as usual on some of their favourite haul outs. We also spotted a Bald Eagle eyeing us up on Stinky Rocks before we began cruising back through the gulf islands.
For our final stop, we went to the Gabriola Bluffs. Here we saw our cormorants nesting and feeding their young, as well as a gull family doing the same thing!
Photos taken by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman and Des Poier.
Anvil (BCZ0410) - she has distinct scratches running across her dorsal. Photo by Des Poier.
Anvil and her gorgeous white fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
Besides flukes and dorsals, sometimes whales have other characteristics that make them easy to ID. This bump on Anvil’s left side is an old Satelitte tag scar. Photo by Des Poier.
Anvil (BCZ0410). Photo by Des Poier.
BCY1198’s fluke reminds us of tiger stripes. Photo by Des Poier.
Anvil (BCZ0410) - look at all that white on her ventral fluke! Photo by Des Poier.
BCY1198 - you can tell it is this whale by the visible hole on the top side of the fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
Anvil crashing through the surf. Photo by Des Poier.
Anvil (BCZ0410) going down for a dive. Photo by Des Poier.
Anvil (BCZ0410) - apparently she has a new S-shaped scratch on her right fluke! In this photo, it is still quite fresh and is a pale pink colour. Photo by Des Poier.
Dalmatian (BCY0994)’s gorgeous spotted fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
Dalmatian (BCY0994) lobtailing - they were having a lot of fun today. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Dalmatian (BCY0994) diving. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Our Harbour seals are masters of the “disapproving” stare. Photo by Des Poier.
Catching some sunshine! Photo by Des Poier.
A mother and pup Harbour seal. Photo by Des Poier.
Sea lions, just like dogs, are surprisingly flexible! Photo by Des Poier.
Our sea lions tend to hang out in large groups like this. Photo by Des Poier.
A perched Bald Eagle at Stinky Rocks. Photo by Des Poier.
The rookery has been busy this year with lots of young Cormorants present. Photo by Des Poier.
Cormorants aren’t the only birds nesting at the bluffs - can you spot the Gull chick in this photo? Photo by Des Poier.