June 24, 2024, 10:30am - A trio of Humpbacks and a funny quartet of orca!
When we departed the harbour today we turned our attention Northeast towards Sechelt. There has been tons of whale activity in the Strait of Georgia between Nanaimo and Sechelt and we were excited to get out there and try our luck at finding whales there. One of our boats decided to take a quick detour to visit some seals at Snake Island though as the conditions were perfect to see these adorable “rock sausages”! After a few minutes with them, they turned back towards the Strait, eyes scanning the horizon.
We scanned and scanned, and it didn’t take long before we saw blows off in the distance! Our boats were travelling spread out to cover as much area as possible, so we had 2 different humpback encounters at the same time!
One of our boats found a pair closely travelling side-by-side, occasionally fluking and meandering along. This pair was identified as Deca (BCY1229) and Moray (BCY1176). Deca is a 4-year-old humpback, born in 2020 to Squint. Moray is a 12-year-old male humpback, born in 2012 to Chunky.
It is uncommon for us to know humpback ages as many of our whales are first spotted when they are already an adult, leading to it being nearly impossible to guess their age without doing genetic testing, so we are always excited when whales with known ages are spotted. Humpback social structures are still a mystery to us due in large part to the devastating hunting that took place during the Whaling Era that nearly wiped them out. Because their numbers were so dramatically reduced, it has been a common belief that Humpbacks were solitary animals until recent years. Now that humpback populations have started to make a comeback, it has become more and more common to see duos or trios of whales travelling together - sometimes for a few hours, or in rare cases, sometimes for the entire feeding season!
The other two vessels found a different curious solo humpback who was identified as Two Spot (BCZ0432). Two Spot came over and began checking the boat out, giving them a few close passbys and inspections. This led to some interesting shots where you could see right up his blowholes, as you can see in the photos below! When whales do this, we turn our engines off until they have once again given us enough space to start up again, and then we are back on our way!
Once we departed our humpbacks we caught word of an orca sighting not too far away! We turned towards the mainland and skedaddled over to join in on the fun. Once we arrived we began snapping photos and were able to identify the orca as the following 4 individuals:
T071B1 Zengo ♀ (2013)
T071B2 Tasli/Nemo ♂ (2018)
T086A1 Nahanni ♀ (~2001)
T086A1B (2023)
Normally when you see a pod of orca you are observing a single matriline. This would consist of the Matriarch/mother, her children, and potentially her grandchildren. However, today’s mishmash group was a little different!
Nahanni is the eldest daughter of T086A Eider, a Matriarch we see semi-regularly in our area. This matriline had not one, not two, but THREE calves born into it in a year. Calves take a lot of time and effort to raise, so to raise three of them all alongside each other would be a daunting task. This could potentially be why this matriline ended up splitting up and now looks like this:
The T086As
T086A Eider ♀ (1988)
T086A4 Akia ♀ (2016)
T086A5 (2024)
T086A1 Nahanni ♀ (~2001)
T086A1B (2023)
T086A3 Tyndall ♀ (2011)
T086A3A (2024)
Eider’s two eldest daughters have separated from their mother and have been travelling separately with their calves in tow. Tyndall and her calf have been frequently sighted in Howe Sound, regularly being seen with either the T123s or members of the T124As. Nahanni isn’t as commonly sighted but seems to enjoy travelling with the T071B siblings as she was today.
On top of the family drama that is the T086As, the T071Bs have their own wild tale! While Zengo is the eldest daughter of T071B Hood, the T071B matriline is still quite small with only 4 surviving members, 1 of which is a 2024 calf. As this pod is so small, normally they would stick together and the older siblings would help care for the young calf. However, it seems like that is not the case for these two, as Zengo and Nemo have been travelling separately for a number of months now. While Zengo is old enough to fend for herself, it is very unusual for a whale as young as Nemo to be off by himself. On top of that, orca males are usually huge mama’s boys and tend to stay glued to their mother’s sides their entire lives. So, what could potentially cause this matriline to have broken up?
Well, as we mentioned above with the T086As, calves have a lot of time and effort to raise. The tricky part about the T071B matriline is one of their members has a known birth defect, which could potentially hinder their ability to hunt, leading to them being reliant on their pod members to feed them. The member we speak of is T071B2 Nemo, who appears to have been born without a left pectoral fin and whose flukes curl up instead of down!
This potential inability to hunt efficiently may have led to Hood sending Zengo and Nemo off for a bit while she raised her new calf. While there are cases of orca taking care of their calves with known birth defects, such as Tumbo who was discussed in our previous blog, Hood may not be able to hunt enough with her small family to sustain all of them at this time. We hope that eventually the T071Bs meet back up and return to travelling as one family unit!
Once our time with the orca was up we departed to go and find other wildlife. The Halibut Bank ODAS buoy was our next target, as it is an area where our Steller sea lions like to lounge. However, today we were in for an extra surprise - there was a large pod of Harbour porpoises circling near the buoy too! Porpoises are very small and are very skittish so it is quite rare for us to be able to watch them on tours. Today they were busily zipping through the water back and forth, leading to some great views as they darted along.
To conclude our day one of our boats wandered over to the Gabriola Bluffs to have a quick viewing of the Cormorant Rookeries. The Cormorants are still busily reinforcing their nests, with quite a few chicks now hatching as well.
While that was going to be our last stop, we couldn’t help but putter over to one last favourite location - one of our local eagle nests to see if the eaglet was visible today. We could see one of the parents perched high up above the nest, but at first, we couldn’t see the cute baby’s face. It wasn’t until the Naturalist snapped a few photos that they realized the eaglet was there, it was just perfectly camouflaged with its surroundings!
Afterwards we turned back towards the harbour, heading back in after another very successful day adventuring around the Salish Sea!
Please enjoy these photos taken by Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster and Aly Kohlman.
Two Spot lifting his tail for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The underside of Two Spot’s tail flukes. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Can you see the hairs sticking out of the tubercles of Two Spot’s nostrils? Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The beautiful underside of Moray’s tail flukes. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
A new-to-us whale, Deca! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Another look at the scars on the underside of Moray’s tail. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
T086A1 Nahanni showing her scarred up saddle patch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The newest calf in the group, T086A1B. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The whole group! T071B2 Nemo, T086A1B, T086A1 Nahanni, and T071B1 Zengo. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The nose of T086A1B, right behind Mom T086A1 Nahanni, T071B2 Nemo, and T071B1 Zengo. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A great look at the T071B siblings, with Nemo in front, and Zengo behind. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T071B2 Nemo/Tasli. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T071B1 Zengo exhaling at the surface. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T086A1 Nahanni followed closely by T086A1B her calf. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T086A1 Nahanni surfacing by herself (the calf is likely just below the surface). Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T086A1 Nahanni closely followed by her calf, T086A1B. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T071B2 Nemo in front of T086A1 Nahanni. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Coming at ya with T086A1B on the left and T086A1 Nahanni on the right! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T086A1 Nahanni with T071B2 Nemo just about to break the surface along side her. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T071B2 Nemo with T086A1 Nahanni just to the left. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
T071B1 Zengo has a very distinct notch. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Some Steller Sea Lions on the Halibut Bank Buoy. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
There was a bunch of Harbour Porpoise at Halibut Bank as well! Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Stampede of seals with a trampling (all seals were unharmed after this photo). Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
The very calm haul out of Harbour Seals. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The young Eagle sitting in the Nest. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.
Cormorants also tending to their nests. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Did you know both the purple and orange sea stars are variations of the same species? Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Sea urchins at the surface during low tide. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
We can spot 6 different intertidal animal species in this photo, can you find them all? Photo by Aly Kohlman.
A Pigeon Guillemot with a gunnel for lunch. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
One of our open boats watching the whales. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Our Semi-covered vessel Kula in search mode! Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.