July 13, 2024, 3:30 pm - The T101s in Stuart Channel
The wind was light and the excitement was high as we pushed off the dock this afternoon! We knew our trio of Orca would most likely still be hanging around in the Southern Gulf Islands where we spotted them earlier in the day, so that’s the direction we headed. Even on days like today when we see whales in the morning, we don’t always find them again in the afternoon. This is because our Transient Orca travel around 100 km each day, usually patrolling the waters for a bite to eat! They also have an extensive range they travel in, stretching all the way from Alaska to California. It never stops amazing us just how far the Orca can travel in a short period of time. A good example of this is a pair of two brothers well known in our region, T125A Jetsam and T128 Flotsam. We call them the Alaska Boys, because they spend the majority of their time up north, but do come to our waters to socialize in the spring. At one point, they were documented in Alaska and only 14 days later they were in our range! Wow! That’s around 1800 kms, an average of 130 kms a day.
When the T101s were spotted this morning around 11:00 am they were near Lantzville, just North of Nanaimo, by the afternoon they were by Crofton! That is a distance of 60 kms in around 5 hours! The travelling Orca we saw today were:
T101 Reef ♀ (≤1969)
T101A Rush ♂ (1993)
T101B Lagoon ♂ (1997)
This pod is run by the Matriarch Reef, and her two sons Rush and Lagoon are always close to mom’s side. We can assume they were travelling today in search of a meal, as each of these Orca needs to pack away at least 300 pounds of food per day. That’s roughly 6 harbour seals per day for this pod!
Speaking of eating, we stumbled upon a couple of bald eagles enjoying some “forbidden spaghetti” as we like to call it, scavenging on the intestines of an animal that has died. This supper was most likely a harbour seal, which is a popular food choice for both eagle and Orca alike. Further along Stinky Rocks, we spotted some of our adorable harbour seals relaxing in the surf, as well as their large cousins the Steller sea lions. We had a stop at the Bluffs to see our cormorants before we tucked back up against the dock and got used to our sea legs back on land!
Photos by Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen and Lucy Willis.
T101B Lagoon. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T101B Lagoon. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T101B Lagoon. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
T101A Rush. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A chunky seal on the rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A trio of Harbour seals. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A Bald Eagle and a Harbour seal. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Bald eagle with innards around its feet. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Forbidden spaghetti. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A pair of Bald Eagles on the rocks. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A flock of cormorants. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Yoga with the Steller sea lions. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Our Open Vessel Keta. Photo by Lucy Willis.