June 26, 2024, 10:30am - Double Species in the Rain
Although the weather was a little rainy, we didn’t let that get us down as we headed out into the Strait of Georgia in search of whales. We travelled over the northern end of Gabriola Island, eyes peeled along the way for whales. We ended up down close to Stinky Rocks, so we decided to take a break from searching and see if anything was hanging out on this typical haul-out location today.
The pinnipeds are creatures of habits, and usually spend their time resting in the same places every day. The Harbour Seals in particular take this to the next level, not typically travelling more than 10 miles from their haul out to forage. They need to spend nearly half of their day out of the water to maintain their body temperature given their small size. Harbour Seals are the second smallest Marine Mammal we see in the Salish Sea, getting to about 300 pounds and 6 feet long when fully grown. The water here in BC doesn’t change much over the course of the year, with lows of about 5°C in the winter and highs of 15°C in the peak of summer. Even with the slightly warmer temperature in the summer, water is so efficient at moving heat that it will still drain body heat from the animals. Their blubber helps with this, but isn’t 100% efficient, so taking a break in the air from the water is how they stay healthy! Getting to see these adorable little ones on the rocks was great. There as also a Bald Eagle keeping an eye on us as we floated along next to Stinky Rocks.
After getting some good views, we continued out into more open water were we continued the search. This attempt at searching was much more successful, as we saw a pair of blows in the distance belonging to humpback whales. As we got closer, we recognized the two whales as Scuba (BCY1225) and Harpy (BCZ0503)! These two were feeding in the waves, diving below the surface and lifting their tails into the air.
While we aren’t exactly sure why we see whales travelling in pairs so much, but there are a few theories!
Efficiency The whales might have a better success rate and efficiency when working together. the humpbacks are typically lunge feeding under the surface, so if they are taking in these big mouthfuls, there’s bound to be spillover, which then the second whale might be able to gobble up, getting a high concentration of food without putting in the extra work
Socializing There seems to be more and more evidence for the fact that humpbacks are actually very social creatures. We see them travelling together, responding to each others playful activity, and on rare occasions up north they will be talking to each other. As their population increases we may continue to see the intricacies of their social lives develop.
No matter the reason that the whales are travelling together, we always enjoy seeing it and speculating about their relationships.
While watching Scuba and Harpy hanging out in the area, we got word from another vessel nearby that they had a pod of Orca come up while they were watching their own humpbacks! A great reminder to keep your eyes peeled everywhere, even if you are already with whales. We decided to leave Scuba and Harpy to their food and head over to these orca. It turned out to be one of our favourite pods, the T099s! This pod is 5 members:
T099 Bella ♀ (~ 1984)
T099B Holly ♀ (2007)
T099C Barakat ♂ (2009)
T099D Puck ♂ (2015)
T099E (2021)
Today these whales were travelling together heading south very quickly. It was really fun watching them travel though the waves as they seemed to throw themselves slightly higher out of the water with usual, giving not only great looks at the dorsal fins that we usually do, but also sneak peaks at the eye patches and saddle patches. They seemed to be on a mission today, travelling very quickly.
Since we were running out of time we didn’t spend too much time with the T099s, and it was time to start the journey back across the Strait towards Nanaimo. It was such a great time spent with both species today. The onboard Marine Naturalist Hayleigh Hilbert captured some amazing photos from the day, which can be viewed below!
Harbour Seals on Stinky Rocks.
A Bald Eagle sharing the rocks with the Harbour Seals.
Scuba’s dorsal fin.
Scuba arching their back preparing to dive.
The underside of Scuba’s tail. You can see the marking on the right hand side that he is named for.
Harpy creating a fluke waterfall.
The underside of Harpy’s tail is a beautiful white.
Harpy preparing to dive.
You can ID Harpy thanks to the two white spots on the right side of her flukes and the lines on the left.
This is Scuba’s tail stock with intense scarring from his entanglement.
T099C Barakat surfacing in the rain.
T099 Bella, T099D Puck, and T099B Holly travelling together.
T099 Bella with two of her kids behind her, T099E exhaling, and T099D Puck’s dorsal fin.
T099C Barakat showing off his eye patch in the waves.
A great look at T099C Barakat.
T099B Holly travelling through the waves.
T099C Barakat is sprouting, meaning his dorsal fin is growing larger.
T099D Puck with a notch out of his dorsal fin and an interesting eye patch.
T099D Puck travelling beside older brother T099C Barakat.
T099D Puck and T099C Barakat.