August 3, 2024, 10:30 am - Hungry hungry humpbacks
The sun was shining and the waters were calm as we made our way into the Strait of Georgia with all three boats! Reports had come in about several Humpback Whales at Halibut Bank, so we headed in that direction. Halibut Bank is a sea mount, about 45 meters deep compared to the 200-400 meters of the rest of the Strait. It’s been a great place to see Humpbacks lately, and today didn’t disappoint!
When we arrived, there were a couple of other whale watch boats on scene, and for good reason. Humpback whales could be seen in almost every direction we looked. We took on the task of photographing and identifying the whales contained in this “humpback soup”!
Luckily, the first four we saw fluked beautifully, and we were able to identify Malachite (KEY0047), Sage (BCX2073), Callisto (BCX0854calf2021) and Velvet (BCY1186). Humpback whales here in BC are primarily focused on feeding. Usually, we see them come up for a few breaths and then go on a dive for about 5-10 minutes. Typically the longer dives we see are when the whale is going deeper. In such a shallow area, they were doing pretty short dives, between 2-4 minutes today. Humpback whales will feed on a variety of things; Phytoplankton (tiny plants), zooplankton (tiny animals), krill, and small schooling fish. We imagine there was plenty to choose from here at Halibut Bank!
We also find a lot of Harbour Porpoises here. They will feed mostly on schooling fish that don’t get much bigger than a foot and a half. They will also occasionally take small squid. We presume there must be enough food to sustain this many porpoises in this area, and some of it may be what humpbacks are feeding on too.
As our trip went on, one of our boats found Moraine (BCX1383 Calf 2021) and Mow (BCY0523calf2023). They were hanging out together, circling and likely feeding. Much the same as the rest of these whales, but maybe they weren’t feeling particularly social.
One of our open boats went to identify the other two humpbacks hanging out in the area where Malachite and his friends were. We only managed to get dorsal shots of these whales, and we were treated to one passing relatively close as it circled the area. They were both doing pretty tight loops, so we went off to search for who else we could find. This boat also came across a very sleepy whale not far from the others. It was “logging”, floating at the surface, taking breaths every once in a while. Since whales are conscious breathers and need to remember to come to the surface to breathe. To compensate, they shut half of their brain off at once to rest while the other half remains on to remember to keep surfacing! We didn’t stay long with this sleepy whale since we didn’t want to disturb them too much.
Both open boats came across Beak/Nuage (BCX1606) having a whale of a time. Lots of pec slapping and beautiful high flukes. Earlier we had seen one breaching in the distance, could it have been Beak? Certainly seemed like he had plenty of energy!
After saying our goodbyes to the humpbacks, we went to find some other wildlife. We saw adorable seagull chicks at the White Islets, as well as some Black Oystercatchers and cormorants. We also got to see Harbour Seals and their pups today!
Between multiple groups of humpback whales and our Salish Sea wildlife, it was an amazing day to be on the water. Photos from today were taken by Marine Naturalists Vanessa Vereschahen, Aly Kohlman, and Lucy Willis.
Slice and Moraine surfacing together. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Callisto’s dorsal fin. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The underside of Calisto’s tail flukes. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Sage has a distinct white line down their tail fluke. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Velvet lifting their fluke to dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The top side of Velvet’s tail as it dips below the water. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
Velvet going for a dive. Photo by Aly Kohlman.
The underside of Sage’s tail. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Harbour Porpoise surfacing at Halibut Bank. Photo by Lucy Willis.
The very white underside of Malachite’s tail. Photo by Lucy Willis.
The partially white underside of Velvet’s tail. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Graze’s 2023 calf’s dorsal fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Moraine’s dorsal fin. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Moraine going for a dive. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
The underside of Mow (graze’s 2023 calf)’s fluke. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
The top side of Mow’s tail. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A very ugly Gull chick near the water. They are towards the end of losing their down feathers. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
A gull with it’s cuter chicks! Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Some ducks in the water near white islets. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Beak with both pectoral fins in the air. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Beak flapping his pectoral fins around. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Beak swimming on his side with a pectoral fin and part of his tail out of the water. Photo by Vanessa Vereschahen.
Beak lifting his rostrum as he surfaces. Photo by Lucy Willis.
Beak’s pectoral fin in the air. Photo by Lucy Willis.