August 30, 2023, 3:30 - Humpback Soup and the T100s hunting in Howe Sound
Back out into the Salish Sea for another adventure this afternoon! We headed into the Strait of Georgia where we found what we call Humpback Soup. It is always a treat when we have so many whales we don’t know where to look, it is a great problem to have indeed! Our Humpbacks are huge, robust powerful animals built for fight, not flight! So it is pretty amazing to be among so much weight just under the surface, a full-grown humpback will reach a weight of around 80,000 pounds and grow 50 to 60 feet!
We ID’d the following 5 humpbacks on our trip:
Pingu (BCY1110) , Valiant (BCX1773) , Nike (BCX1377), Niagara (BCY0057), and Geometry (BCZ0338)!
After departing our wonderful humpbacks, we also got lucky enough to spot a family of Orca as well! This was the T100s:
T100 Hutchins ♀ (~1979)
T100C Laurel ♂ (2002)
T100F Estrella (2014)
Now the Orca are streamlined, built for speed and agility, the apex predator, the wolves of the sea! A full-grown Orca can reach a weight of around 12,000 pounds and 30 feet in length. These Orca were spotted fairly close to all those Humpbacks! The good news is today they decided to ignore each other. This is the typical behaviour we see between the two species, even though they are mortal enemies. There have been interactions between the two, but no successful hunt has been documented in the Salish Sea at this time. We believe that is due to the rate at which baby humpbacks grow, by the time they have made it here from their breeding grounds they are not so small! Like I said before the Humpback is built for fight, so between 12 to 18 feet of Humpback can certainly make the Orca think twice about risking injury to attack. One of the encounters we have seen between the two species ended in a draw! This was a young Humpback named Valiant and this whale’s tail looks terrible. A lot of teeth marks and even a few pieces missing from his tail! You guessed it, the Orca picked on him! Well now that Valiant has grown in size, he does not ignore the Orca, he has been documented charging them! He holds a grudge, not going to forgive and forget anytime soon by the looks of it. However, he better watch himself because he might get himself into trouble with some of the bolder orca if he isn’t careful!
Photos taken by Marine Naturalist Des Poier.
Pingu finishing off a cartwheel with a big splash. Photo by Des Poier.
The underside of Pingu’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.
Geometry lifting their tail to dive behind Valiant’s dorsal fin. Photo by Des Poier.
The underside of Nike’s Tail in front of Vancouver. Photo by Des Poier.
Valiant lifts his tail to dive beside Geometry. Photo by Des Poier.
Look at the unique shape to Valiant’s Dorsal fin. Photo by Des Poier.
Valiant diving. Photo by Des Poier.
Geometry diving with Vancouver’s skyline in the background. Photo by Des Poier.
T100C Laurel travelling through Howe Sound.
T100F Estrella does a tail slap during the hunt. Photo by Des Poier.
T100F Estrella splashing down! Photo by Des Poier.
The T100’s surfacing together. Photo by Des Poier.
T100C Laurel surfacing behind T100 Hutchins. Photo by Des Poier.
A lovely spy hop from one of the T100s. Photo by Des Poier.
The beautiful view up Howe Sound. Photo by Des Poier.
Some shore birds on the rocks at high tide. Photo by Des Poier.
Three Harbour Seals take a rest on the log boom. Photo by Des Poier.
They look pretty happy there! Photo by Des Poier.