August 11, 2024, 3:30 pm - Humpback Mania continues in the Salish Sea

We had two boats leaving this afternoon, excited to see what was in store for them as they left Nanaimo and headed out to start searching the Salish Sea. We’ve been very lucky to have a lot of sightings of humpback whales nice and close to home, and we were curious if we would be able to continue this streak.

We went north, over the top of Gabriola Island, and spread our boats out to search more efficiently in the Strait of Georgia, when one of the boats spotted blows in the distance. Looks like our humpback luck was continuing!

It seemed like we had come across a pair of humpback whales travelling together here. They appeared to be feeding which is great news for us since this typically means that they will be lifting their huge tails high into the air to assist with the deeper dives to get to their main food source. The underside of this tail is the easiest way to Identify our humpback whales, although the small dorsal fins can be used to a certain extent. The tails are about 20 feet wide so it provides a nice canvas to see lots of the details which are helpful for figuring out exactly which humpback you have. Today, we used these tails to ID Wisp (BCX1333 calf 2021) and “Mow” (BCY0523 calf 2023) travelling together! While it’s not confirmed why humpbacks seem to pair up like this more and more, some speculate that it helps them feed more efficiently. When a humpback feeds, they usually just open their mouths wide and do a powerful flick of their tail, moving this open mouth through the cloud of food they have been sensing with their tubercles. This is called Lunge Feeding. Sometimes this happens at the surface, but more often it occurs under the water. Although they can take in huge volumes during that lunge (around 20,000L) there is still some spillage so they theorize that the second humpback may come in close behind to clean up some of that spillage, making their feeding slightly more efficient since that first whale has concentrated the food for them. This is still all theory since our waters are so nutrient-dense that they are very difficult to see through.

We do see cooperative feeding with our humpbacks though through bubble-net feeding further north. So if they can coordinate feeding on that large of a scale it wouldn’t be a stretch to think this small-scale cooperation could be happening. When whales are associated like this, they also tend to have synchronized movements, surfacing and diving at the same time, playing to this theory that they are working together under the surface.

We spent some time watching these two surfacing and diving together until our time with them was up, and we started the search once more. It didn’t take long at all until there were more blows in the distance, this time a trio of whales! It was a couple of familiar flukes, Beak (BCX1606) and Malachite (BCX1210calf2021) mixed in with a less commonly seen whale: Turkey (BCY1157)! Turkey has shown up a few times this year and is very easy to identify due to the intense entanglement scarring on the left side of their tail flukes. These whales were also seemingly feeding in the area, doing intervals of dives and catching their breath at the surface. Would the theory of three whales feeding together be the same as with two? There must be some reason that these three are spending time together, although the answer could be as simple as socializing. These associations are usually short-term, lasting only a few minutes to a few hours most of the time before they break apart and continue with their day separately.

After spending time with these three, we continued on our way, once again not making it far before we found even more whales! It was another pair, Valiant (BCX1773) and Arial (BCY0767). This pair seemed like they weren’t as focused on food, with speculation that maybe Arial was putting the moves on Valiant. The genders of both of these whales are known, with Valiant being female, and Arial being male. In their breeding grounds, it’s very common to find males showing off for the females, doing all sorts of surface activity to get their attention. Is that what was happening here? In theory, we shouldn’t be seeing this sort of competition in our waters since they are just here to feed and all of the breeding would happen after their migration south. Maybe this is a practice attempt for them? It was pretty fun to watch Arial throwing himself out of the water and slapping his chin on the surface, and Valiant was responding with some pectoral slaps herself. The genders of these whales might just be a coincidence as well, and they might just be two humpbacks with some extra energy spending time together without any alternative motives. No matter their motivation, it is always amazing watching the power these giants have, gracefully moving their 40-ton bodies like that.

Eventually Valiant and Arial turned from their acrobatics to feeding once more, so we left them to it and continued to a nearby Harbour Seal haul-out where we got some great looks at the seals. They tend to spend their time on the same rocks every day, making finding them nice and easy. Whenever we have the opportunity to check these areas we take them, since the Harbour Seals are some of the cutest animals that we see! Especially this time of year, since there is usually at least one pup in the mix. The pups only stay with their mom for about a month before they will become more self-sufficient.

From here, we started back towards Nanaimo, but another set of blows stopped one of our boats. They were quickly able to ID Wisp, who we saw earlier in the day but this time they had a new friend with them; Snoopy (BCY0770)! We saw one of these two throw their tail in the air before they seemed tired out and started to rest. We decided to leave them to it, and after a quick stop at the Gabriola Bluffs, we also returned to Nanaimo to rest.

It was an amazing afternoon getting to see so many humpback whales! All of the photos taken during the trip by Marine Naturalists Aly Kohlman and Des Poier are included for you to enjoy below!

BCY0523 calf 2023 “Mow”’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Wisp’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Wisp lifting their tail to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Beak’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

BCY1157 “Turkey”’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Malachite’s fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Beak, Malachite, and Turkey surfacing close together. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Another look at Turkey, Malachite, and Beak. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Arial’s dorsal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Arial’ fluke. Photo by Des Poier.

Valiant’s dorsal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

The top of Valiant’s fluke. Photo by Des Poier.

Arial breaching. Photo by Des Poier.

Arial breaching from the water. Photo by Des Poier.

Arial coming in for a landing with his mouth open. Photo by Des Poier.

Touchdown! Photo by Des Poier.

A chin slap from Arial. Photo by Des Poier.

Arial tail lobbing. Photo by Des Poier.

If we didn’t already know, you can tell from this photo that Arial is male since there’s no hemispherical lobe. Photo by Des Poier.

Arial lifting his tail. Photo by Des Poier.

Look how floppy Arial’s tail is! Photo by Des Poier.

Valiant pec slapping in return. Photo by Des Poier.

Snoopy’s dosal. Photo by Des Poier.

Snoopy’s fluke. Photo by Des Poier.

Wisp’s dorsal. Photo by Des Poier.

Some adorable Harbour Seals. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

A mom and pup Harbour Seal. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Cormorants drying themselves off. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

They do this since they have less preening oil in their feathers. Photo by Aly Kohlman.

Cormorants nesting along the Gabriola Bluffs. Photo by Des Poier.