December 5, 2024 - Humpbacks around the islands, and a T-party in Lantzville

Winter is in the air, but that didn’t stop us from having another incredible time on the water today!

We started our trip inside the Gulf Islands, scanning the shorelines for signs of whales. It didn’t take us long to see the telltale puffs of Humpbacks rising from the ocean. As we got closer, we spotted a very distinct dorsal fin - this fin helped us ID one of our whales as Slits (BCY0946), who was travelling with her 2024 calf Ulli (BCY0946 calf 2024). Ulli is a Hawaiian name meaning “gem of the sea”. This is very heartwarming as Slits was entangled back in October 2022. Slits was entangled in such a way that human intervention was required to save her. Through a dedicated team, they pulled the rope out of her mouth and she was once again able to swim freely. If there had been no intervention, she might have passed away, and we would never have met Ulli.

Once we departed our mother and calf duo, we went back into search mode. We popped out into the Strait of Georgia, sticking close to the Gulf Islands. There have been a lot of shore-based sightings lately, so we were eager to try our luck to see if any more humpbacks were still meandering around, and it paid off! Just off of Thrasher Rock we spotted another pair of humpbacks travelling side by side.
This next pair was identified as Ocean/Mammoth (BCX1710) and Orion (BCX1251), two well-known individuals. This pair was travelling along and fluking occasionally. We are getting quite late in the season now, and soon all of our gentle giants will be departing our waters to head to the warmer waters where they will breed. Interestingly, we don’t know which breeding grounds these two return to - maybe this will be the year we finally are able to crossmatch them to either the Mexico or Hawaii breeding grounds!

After spending some time with Ocean/Mammoth and Orion, we once again started to scan the horizon since you can never have too many whales! This time, instead of sticking to the shoreline, we turned our attention towards the mainland and aimed for an area known as Halibut Bank. Halibut Bank has been a hotspot for our Humpbacks this year (there has likely been a large quantity of food here for them all season) so we figured we could try our luck here once more - and once again, we were successful! These two were being a bit uncooperative for IDing, but after consulting the photos back in the office, these two were identified as Slice (BCX1057 calf 2021) and Pawn (BCX1515). Just like the other humpback pairs, these two were busy travelling along, likely getting their last big meals in before their departure. Just like with Ocean/Mammoth and Orion, Slice and Pawn also haven’t been crossmatched to breeding grounds yet. However, we know Slice’s mother Divot breeds in Hawaii - because this species shows a strong sense of site fidelity (the tendency to return to areas they have been in previously, in humpbacks usually referring to the feeding and breeding grounds mothers will teach their calves about), it is very likely Slice will be heading to Hawaii.

After finding 6 humpbacks, we figured that would be all of our whale excitement for the day… that is, until we caught word of a pod of orca spotted near Lantzville! We zoomed off and were lucky enough to find them, making today a double species trip!

As soon as we were on scene, our Naturalist got to work IDing our 11 orca. It turns out we were with a small T-party - or in other words, a gathering of multiple pods of Transient orca together. This group was made up of individuals from 3 separate matrilines:

T068C Bazan ♀ (1992)
T068C1 Sila ♀ (2007)
T068C3 Jacobsen ♀ (2012)
T068C3A (2024)
T068C4 Rich (2014)
T068C6 (2023)

T037A1 Inyo ♀ (2007)

T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Fifi / Jasper ♀ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble ♂ (2017)
T075B4 (2021)

The T068Cs are a very uncommon pod for us — so uncommon, in fact, that we have only ever seen them once before! On November 17, 2023, we saw them travelling with a different lone individual. During today’s encounter, however, they had an extra special surprise with them - a tiny new calf was spotted amongst the adults!

While we love all our whales, seeing new babies is always very exciting for us. T068C3A, the youngest member of the party, appears to only be a few weeks old. This little bouncing baby was busily zipping amongst the pod members today, dashing ahead of the crowd before quickly returning to their mother’s side.
While we do not know for sure which whale is their mother, scientists typically will conclude which individual is a calf’s mother when they observe who they are travelling with when they are in echelon position - or just to side and behind their mother’s dorsal fin. Swimming in this position helps them conserve energy as they travel along in their mother’s slipstream. There are a couple photos of T068C3A in echelon position with T086C3 Jacobsen below - see if you can spot what we mean amongst the trip’s highlight photos!

Once our time with the orca was up we made our way back to home port. It was another beautiful day out on the Salish Sea, and with the year coming to an end, we are especially grateful for each and every opportunity we have out on the water!

Photos by Marine Naturalist Aly Kohlman.

Left to right: T075B Pebbles (back), T075B4 (front), T075B2 Fifi/Jasper, and T037A1 Inyo.

Left to right: T068C6, T037A1 Inyo, and T075B2 Fifi/Jasper.

Left to right: T075B4, T075B2 Fifi/Jasper, and T037A1 Inyo.

Little T068C3A charging ahead with T037A1 Inyo in the background.

T0683 Jacobsen and her new calf T068C3A.

This calf is very young - look at how tiny it is compared to T068C Jacobsen’s dorsal!

Left to right: T075 Pebbles, T075B4, and T075B2 Fifi/Jasper.

Left to right: T068C3 Jacobsen, T075B Pebbles, T075B4, and T037A1 Inyo.

T068C3 Jacobsen with their calf T068C3A right beside them, T037A1 Inyo right behind them, and T075B Pebbles in the background.

A sleepy California sea lion watching a Gull at Stinky Rocks.

Jilann LechnerDecember 5, 2024WhalesComment