We left Nanaimo this afternoon with news that the pod of orca, the T075Bs, that we had been watching this morning were still heading in our direction. We started the search of Northumberland Channel and quickly saw the black dorsal fins and blows from the whales, we had found them again!

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

These whales were travelling in the waves so we got some really amazing looks at them. The T075Bs consist of all small fins, being females and young animals. The benefit of seeing them in wavy weather is that they tend to show off more of themselves as they move through the crests and troughs. This means that we usually see a bit more of the white parts of the orca like their eye patches, saddle patches, and even the white of their bellies. This white on the underside is thought to be countershading. This means it helps them blend into their environment a bit better. If you look at an orca in the water from the top, the darker colour helps them blend into the dark water, with the white saddle patch breaking up their body shape. If you look at them from the bottom, the white helps them blend into the brighter sunlight that comes through from above. Other animals also have this, like Great White Sharks! It’s always exciting when we get an extra peek at the white since we don’t have the opportunity very often.

We spent some time with these whales before continuing down Northumberland Channel, towards Dodd Narrows since we had word that there was another whale in that direction, this time a humpback! We were able to find it easily, thanks to the large bushy blow that he released when he surfaced! He went for a dive, lifting his tail and allowing us to identify him as Hendrix (BCY1278)! It’s slightly less common to see humpback whales on the inside of the islands like this so we were thrilled to watch him travel in the area and seem to be feeding. While spending time with Hendrix something else caught our eye, was that more blows? It was! There was another pod of orca that appeared next to Hendrix, heading north towards Dodd Narrows. Thanks to the impressive large males, we recognized this as being the T046s.

T122 Centeki ♀ (~1982)
T046D Strider ♂ (2000)
T046E Thor ♂ (2003)
T046F Loki ♂ (2012)

You might wonder why they are called the T046s when it seems like there is no T046 present in the list. Unfortunately, it’s because the matriarch of this pod, T046 Wake, passed away in 2023. She was a very important whale, having been captured for captivity back in 1976 with some other individuals. She was thankfully released and went on to have 8 kids (7 living), 14 grandkids (12 living) and 2 great-grandkids. Since she also has 3 boys, there are likely even more grandkids (and potential great-grandkids) in the mix. Since the calves stay with the moms there isn’t currently a great way to track who the fathers are, although the introduction of e-DNA might change that.

e-DNA, or environmental DNA, analysis involves taking samples of the fluke print of a whale, or the smooth area where the whale just surfaced, as well as a nearby plain ocean sample and subtracting the ocean from the whale sample. This leaves only the DNA from the whale. This is possible since the whales are constantly shedding skin cells, just like we do, which is actually what the sample is testing! This research is still in its early stages but we can’t wait to hear some of the results soon!

We continued watching the T046s until our time was up, and the sun was starting to inch closer to the horizon, so with a quick stop at the Gabriola Bluffs, we headed home to Nanaimo, happy with all of the wildlife that we got to see so close to home! Our onboard Marine Naturalists Hayleigh Hilbert and Vanessa Vereschahen captured some great photos during this trip which you can see below!

August 27, 2024, 3:30 pm - The T075Bs, T046s, and Hendrix the Humpback Close to Home!

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