March 14, 2024 - T-party with the T036As, T037s, T034s, T065As, T049As and the T123s!
We couldn’t have asked for a better day as our Semi-covered vessel, Kula, left the dock. While it hadn’t been confirmed yet, we had heard rumours about there being orca near Comox, so we decided to head north in that general direction. As we started the journey up, we got word that the rumours were true, those whales had been found by a local research boat that was working in the area. That boat confirmed that there was a group of Transient orca there, so we were in luck! As it turned out, there was more than just the whales from that report around, but we would find that out later.
We headed in the direction of that initial group of whales, and after a long travel to get there, we started to see some action in the distance. These whales were hunting, and there was sure a lot of them! This first group was 4 different orca travelling together, the T034s, T036As, T037s and the T065As.
T034 Grace ♀ (≤ 1969)
T034A Pachamama ♀ (2007)
T034B Sonder (2017)
T036A Leland ♀ (1990)
T036A1 Tierna ♀ (2005)
T036A1A (2002)
T036A2 Kailas ♀ (2012)
T036A3 Storm/Mike III ♂ (2015)
T036A5 (2021)
T037 Rocky III / Pizza Fin ♀ (1979)
T037B Harald ♀ (1998)
T037B1 Lance ♂ (2012)
T037B3 (2022)
T065A Fingers / Artemis ♀ (1986)
T065A2 Ooxjaa ♂ (2004)
T065A3 Amir ♂ (2007)
T065A4 Ellifrit ♀ (2011)
T065A6 Callisto ♀ (2018)
These whales seemed to be hunting when we first got there, with lots of fast movement at the surface, gulls surrounding them looking for leftovers, and they were staying in basically the same area. Since our waters are so nutrient rich, it means that they typically are hard to see through, so sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between social behaviour and hunting behaviour. We later got a clear sign that it was indeed hunting when one of the orca surfaced with a piece of the preys intestines draped over their dorsal fin. While it looks a little brutal, this is likely an important part of the social impact of hunting, since they share prey, and usually celebrate afterwards, this type of display would feed into the celebratory behaviour. Orca are extremely social animals, with large groups like this being somewhat common. With this large of a group, taking down the larger prey like a sea lion becomes a much more feasible task. While it was hard to tell what the prey source was from our only look at it, a sea lion seems the most likely based on the amount that were in the area for the nearby herring run.
After the hunt was complete, we started to see more socializing behaviour with some breaches, spy hops, tail slaps continuing until our time with these animals was up.
Interestingly, about halfway through the time with the big T-party there was another pod of whales that passed by, about as close as the bigger group, but apparently uninterested in joining in on the feast (probably since they didn’t help with the hunt at all). With them being so close and being a well known pod in the area, we quickly knew it was the T123s! This pod is 4 members:
T123 Sidney ♀ (~1985)
T123A Stanley ♂ (2000)
T123C Lucky ♀ (2012)
T123D Darcy ♀ (2018)
Getting to see them was an unexpected treat, as we didn’t know that they were in the area! Sidney and Stanley have a very unique story, given that they have been stranded before! They both ended up in the shallow waters with a tide going out, and they didn't go out with the tide, it was back in 2011 and interestingly Sidney was pregnant with lucky at the time! Obviously it remained a successful pregnancy as Lucky is still alive and well to this day, and this event is where she got her name from. We only saw the T123s for one set of surfaces before they continued on their way, out of sight.
After the excitement of the hunt and getting to see so many whales, we continued on our way, down between Vancouver Island and Denman Island. In this channel we found our final pod of orca for the day: the T049As!
T049A Nan ♀ (1986)
T049A1 Noah ♂ (2001)
T049A3 Nat ♂ (2011)
T049A4 Neptune ♂ (2014)
T049A5 Nebula ♀ (2017)
T049A6 Charlie II (2022)
Funnily enough, it also seems that this pod was just finishing up a hunt as well, but they were much less celebratory with it. It’s funny, sometimes even when the whales are doing the same thing, they will do it so much differently! Each whale is unique, and have their own individual personalities and ways of doing things.
Since it was turning out to be a pretty long trip, we only breifly stopped with the T049As before we had to continue our trip back to the harbour.
We had one final stop along the way to see some of the other Marine Mammals of the area, the Steller Sea Lions!
Soon after, we found ourselves back at the dock. What an amazing day spent with so many exciting whales! The Marine Naturalist onboard, Val Watson, captured some amazing photos (and one video by Captain Rodrigo), that can all be viewed below!
Double tail trouble!
Left to right: T036A1A , T0136A1 Tierna followed by T037 Pizza Fin.
Left to right: T036A Leland, T034B Sonder, T034 Grace and T065A Artemis
T037B1 Lance with others circling. How many Orca do you see?
Picking up speed with T037 Pizza Fin (back) and T037B1 Harald (front).
A big splash made by T037 Pizza Fin and friends!
So round! A big thank you to all the pinnipeds they rely on to stay round and healthy!
Left to right: T036A1 Tierna, T037B Harold, T065A Artemis and T034 Grace.
Left to right: T065A Artemis, T034 Grace and T036A Leland.
Left to right: T036A1 Tierna, T037 Pizza Fin and T036A3 Storm.
Left to right: T036A1 Tierna, T037 Pizza Fin and T034B Sonder.
Left to right: T036A Leland and T036A2 Kailas.
Left to right: T065A Fingers, T034 Grace, T034A Pachamama, T065A6 Callisto, T036A2 Kailas, T065A4 Ellifrit and T036A Leland.
That’s a lot of whales!
Left to right: T036A Leland, T036A3 Storm, T036A2 Kailas, T065A4 Ellifrit, T034 Grace, and T065A Fingers surfacing together.
T036A1 Tierna getting a look at the Gulls with T065A Fingers.
Left to right: T036A1 Tierna, T065A3 Amir and T034 Grace.
One of the other members of this T-party surfaces in front of T065A6 Callisto, T065A3 Amir and T036A1 Tierna.
T065A3 Amir surfacing behind another.
T036A1 Tierna with her unique dorsal fin.
How many whales do you see? There’s T065A Fingers and T036A Leland plus the third surfacing in front of them.
No T-party is complete without a tail slap or two! This tail is in the group featuring the dorsal fin of T034 Grace.
Can you see the piece of skin hanging on the tail? We can guess that prey may have fought back at some point.
Someone prepares for a tail slap alongside T036A1 Tierna.
T065A6 Callisto making waves.
T065A6 Callisto catching up to a friend.
Another tail missing a few pieces.
T036A1 Tierna with another surfacing at her side.
Look at the wave in T123A Stanley’s fin.
T123A Stanley swimming by the T-party, apparently uninterested in joining the fun.
Orca have very sensitive skin and like to be close to each other like we see here with T037B Harald, T065A Fingers, and T034 Grace.
T036A Leland surfacing alone.
T037 Pizza Fin.
T036A1 Tierna, likely beside her 2022 calf.
T065A Fingers surrounded by her family.
Are T036A1A and T036A1 Tierna chasing Gulls now?
T036A1A and T036A1 Tierna surfacing together with someone else’s belly above water behind them.
T065A3 Amir with some Gulls looking for a snack.
We can tell this was a successful hunt, those are intestines.
T049A1 Noah!
Very fuzzy Steller Sea Lion!
Giving us the side-eye.
Juvenile Bald Eagle.
A Leather Star! Did you know they smell like garlic if you sniffed one?