Another adventurous day in the Salish Sea! But that’s no problem for the whales, so we suited up and headed out. Just Northeast of the Flat Top Islands, we found a lovely pair of humpbacks that we identified as BCY1274 and Fader (BCY0195). Fader is a 24-year-old from the Hawaiian population, and since they have never brought back a calf, we assume they are a male - but you never know! Our second friend is a whale new to our area and has not been named yet. When Kula came up on scene, it appeared that these two were resting comfortably, but that changed pretty quickly! It seems like the whales enjoy the wavy waters, as we sometimes get to see a fair amount of excitement from them then. Today was no different, and we were witness to some great pec slaps, chin slaps and lots of breaching from our two humpbacks! Judging by the photos taken today, these two are well-fed and seem to have put on a good amount of weight before they head back to the breeding grounds in the fall. Fader has been seen with a lot of different whales lately; could he be putting the moves on the ladies early in preparation for a busy breeding season?

While it’s always difficult to leave such interesting animals, after our hour was up, we left our bouncy whales on their own and continued on our way. Heading into the Gulf Islands, we were delighted to find a pod of Orca in Pylades channel, near De Courcy Island. This pod was a small family that we identified as the T075Bs! This pod consists of:

T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Jasper ♀ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble ♂ (2017)
T075B4 ♀ (2021)

This small-finned family consists of three ladies and a young male who hasn’t sprouted yet. As you may have noticed, this family have entirely rock-themed names, but the youngest member of this pod doesn’t have one yet! Orca typically receive a name after two or three years, so this little one is definitely overdue. We can’t wait to see what name they get! We actually got to see Pebbles’ mom and brother earlier this summer, and it was very exciting because we don’t normally see this duo in our waters. T075 Kidney and T075A Stone were spotted in Saanich Inlet, near the Victoria Airport. Check out the blog from July 21 to take a look at this extended family tree.

Unfortunately, the T075Bs family tree suffered a loss last year. In the spring, the pod welcomed a brand new calf, but surprisingly, it belonged to an unexpected member: First-time mom Jasper. This puzzled a lot of people because Jasper is barely old enough to have kids, and at eight years old, she was one of the youngest (if not THE youngest) orca to have a calf thus far in the Bigg’s orca population - but the baby was seen travelling in echelon position with Jasper repeatedly, leading people to believe it was her baby. However, we will never know if it was her or her mom’s, as the little one only lived a few months. If it was indeed Jasper’s first calf, this could have explained the calf’s quick decline, especially given her age. The youngest T075B member was also only two years old at the time and would have just been recently weaned. Maybe having two youngsters in the pod was too much for this small family. Either way, we hope to see more calves from them soon, and all members seem to be in good health. We left this pod as they headed into False Narrows and continued on their way into Northumberland Channel.

We finished off the day by checking out some more species at Stinky Rocks. This place has a plethora of wildlife! We checked out the ever-entertaining Steller Sea Lions, the fuzzy Harbour Seals, and some lovely raptors including the Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures. All photos were taken by onboard naturalists Hayleigh Hilbert and Lucy Willis!

August 22, 2024, 10:30 am - Fader gets excited, and the T075Bs are still around!

© Vancouver Island Whale Watch 2018-2024. All Rights Reserved.