Another dark and stormy day was upon us here in Nanaimo, but as we always say: The whales don’t mind the rain, they’re already wet!

We headed out into the rainy Strait of Georgia where there have been a ton of sightings in the last few weeks. We were hoping that the trend would continue as we were searching. Before long, our luck held true and we spotted some whales in the distance! It was three humpback whales travelling together: Spock (BCY1134), Ocular (BCY1705), and Seabird (BCX1774)! These three whales were travelling right next to each other, with barely any space separating them.

This seemed to indicate some social behaviour taking place since being that close at the surface usually means that there would be contact underneath the water. Each of these whales is huge when fully grown, up to 17 meters and up to 80,000 pounds! Each one of their pectoral fins is about 5 meters in length, so the likelihood of them brushing against each other is quite high. We were also hearing some surface vocalization from the whales, also known as trumpeting! This isn’t very common with the humpbacks, and usually happens when the whales are in close proximity to each other or feeling disturbed. Lucky today it seemed to be social!

We would spend some time with the whales at the surface before they dove under, all within a few seconds of each other. The social lives of humpback whales is still a bit of a mystery, but more and more evidence is coming forward that they are much more social animals than previously thought. We sure believed it as we watched the interactions of these three humpbacks.

Soon we left the whales to their interactions and food, and we went to find other wildlife!

We found some Harbour Seals along the way home, hauled out on some rocks. Harbour Seals are the second smallest of our marine mammals, being only about 6 feet long! They are a major part of the local ecosystem, eating many different species of fish and cephalopods. They have a lot of adaptations for life in the water, such as fused pelvic bones, and oil secreted into their eye, as well as pupil adaptations to bring in more light in the water. The cure little whiskers also helps with hunting, as they can detect vibrations of prey from a fair distance.

We also stopped in at the Gabriola Bluffs, were there was lots of action. Not only were the birds flying in and our of their cliffside nests, but we also got to see one of the Bald Eagles spending time close to the nest. It was a great day, and all of the photos captured by naturalists Aly Kohlman and Des Poier can be viewed below!

June 2, 2024 - SpOcu-lar partied in the Strait with Seabird

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