August 12, 2024, 3:30 pm - Humpback Whale Extravaganza!
It’s not very often that we can leave the dock and find whales before we even get the chance to pick up speed, but that’s exactly what happened this afternoon! We had two boats leaving Nanaimo and as they turned the corner of Protection Island, they spotted the blows of humpback whales not too far away!
We have been absolutely spoiled this year with the amount of humpbacks in the area, with some known whales returning to us, and we are even seeing lots of new whales for us as well! Today, the first group of whales that we spotted turned out to be familiar faces, Wisp (BCX1333 calf 2021) and Malachite (BCX1210 calf 2021)!
We got to spend lots of time with Malachite in particular when he was younger, as his mother Slate used to leave us to “babysit” while she continued feeding deeper not too far away. It can be tough for a humpback mom, given that the smaller calves don’t have the same lung capacity as an adult. Since most of their food is pretty deep in the water, they can be under for long periods. A humpback whale has been recorded holding their breath for up to 45 minutes while they did a very deep, ~200m dive. Our humpback whales don’t have much reason to go this deep though, since most of their food wouldn’t be found there. Some of the longer dive times are speculated to be just maneuvering more under the water and not necessarily going down deeper. These two did seem to be feeding in the area when we first found them, but given the area, we were watching them wasn’t very deep, we didn’t have to wait as long before they surfaced again. Partway through our time with them, they seemed to switch from “feeding mode” to “sleeping mode” spending more time at the surface while also not lifting their tail, so we left them to it.
We had actually spotted more blows in the distance at this point, so we decided to head over there to see who else was feeding in the area. It was two very beautiful white-fluked whales: Geometry (BCZ0338) and Stingray (BCZ0409)! These two have been travelling together for a few days at this point, which is a treat for us. Having two “Z” type whales is pretty rare, given that they are the least common type of whale in our region.
We classify humpback whales by the amount of white pigmentation on the ventral side of their tail flukes. If there is less than 20% white, they are an “X” whale, if there is 20-80% white they are a “Y” whale, and if they have more than 80% white, like Geometry and Stingray, they are a “Z” whale! Currently in BC, there are over 2200 “X” whales, over 1500 “Y” whales, and about 500 “Z” whales.
These two were circling in the area, diving down to also feed on the rich waters below. Most of the time our humpback whales are feeding on small crustaceans known as krill. In addition to krill, they eat other planktonic animals and some small schooling fish like herring. Interstingly, scientists can tell what the humpbacks have been eating by getting fecal samples. Since zooplankton are usually the larval stages of other animals, like crabs, barnacles, and other crustaceans, they have hard exoskeletons. These exoskeletons are often left partially undigested, so they can ID them in the humpback’s poop! In addition to that, some bones from the fish will remain. So if you find these in the fecal samples you can tell what the whales are feeding on. While we didn’t see any pooping today, we still pondered what we thought these whales were feeding on at the depths.
Eventually, it was time to leave the whales to it, and we continued to Stinky Rocks where we got a great look at the Pinnipeds there, the Steller Sea Lions and the Harbour Seals!
On the way home, we saw something that caught our eye, a breaching whale! It seemed like two of our whales from earlier had found a friend, and where pretty excited about it! Wisp and Malachite were now joined by another young whale: Galaxia (BCX1301calf2021)! These three whales were doing all sorts of activity after their nap, fully breaching, tail slapping, chin slapping, and even lifting their big pectoral fins into the air! This carried on for a while while we were watching them, but then continued to travel and feed after a while. So we also continued on our travels, ending the trip with a final wildlife stop at the Gabriola Bluffs to see the Cormorants nesting there, as well as the baby gulls!
It was an amazing day getting to see so much wildlife nice and close to home. The marine naturalists onboard Des Poier and Lucy Willis captured some great photos from the day, all of which can be viewed below!
A fluke and a pectora fin together. Photo by Des Poier.
Stingray lifting her tail to dive. Photo by Des Poier.
Stingray doing for a dive. Photo by Des Poier.
Look at Stingray’s beautiful white tail. Photo by Des Poier.
You can see all the scarring on Stingray’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.
The underside of geometry’s tail. You can see how different Geometry is from Stingray. Photo by Des Poier.
Stingray’s dorsal fin. Photo by Des Poier.
Stingray’s dorsal fin is very scarred up as well. Photo by Des Poier.
Stingray’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.
Geometry’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.
Stingray diving on the left, with Geometry’s dorsal on the right. Photo by Des Poier.
Geometry and Stingray diving together. Photo by Des Poier.
Geometry (left) and Stingray (right) dorsal fins. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A great look at Stingray’s dorsal fin. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Malachite lifting his tail. Photo by Des Poier.
One of the humpback’s pectoral fin in the air. Photo by Des Poier.
A little tail flick from Malachite. Photo by Des Poier.
Galaxia’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.
Breaching humpback. Photo by Des Poier.
Breaching humpback whale. Photo by Des Poier.
Humpback breaching in front of Gabriola Island. Photo by Des Poier.
A tail lob with a pectoral fin in front. Photo by Des Poier.
Malachite’s tail. Photo by Des Poier.
A white spot on one of the whales face. Photo by Des Poier.
The underside of Malachite’s tail. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Malachite making a fluke waterfall. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Malachite flicking his tail. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Geometry. Photo by Lucy Willis.
One of the humpbacks breaching. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A mini-breach from one of the whales. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Wisp tail lobbing. Photo by Lucy Willis.
One of the humpbacks breaching. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Wisp tail lobbing. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Wisp tail lobbing. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Malachite tail slapping. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A large male Steller Sea Lion causing a fight. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Fighting amongst the Sea Lions. Photo by Des Poier.
The Large Male Steller Sea Lion in the middle. Photo by Des Poier.
Harbour Seal on the rocks. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Harbour Seals at Stinky Rocks. Photo by Des Poier.
Cormorants drying off. Photo by Lucy Willis.
A bald eagle watching from an arbutus tree. Photo by Des Poier.
A cormorant family on the cliffside. Photo by Des Poier.
Young gulls at the Gabriola Bluffs. Photo by Des Poier.