September 2, 2024, 10:30 am - The T002Cs and T075Bs look for lunch, and a pair of Humpbacks travel by!
Sometimes it surprises people when we say how close the whales might be travelling to shore, but time and time again, we see the Biggs or Transient orca patrolling the coastline of the islands looking for a snack. The orca that we watch are the mammal eaters, and since most of the time those other marine mammals are at their highest concentrations near their haul-out sites, the orca don’t mind moving in for the potential of an easy meal. Such was the case today when we found the T002Cs and the T075Bs travelling together very close to shore. They were island hopping along the Winchelsea Archipelago, going from spot to spot to see if any of those Seals and Sea Lions might be caught unaware by their efforts. While the large male in the group: T002C1 Rocky tends to steal the show photo-wise with his massive dorsal fin, we know that the Matrairchs are running this show. They are at the top of the listed whales per pod below:
T002C Tasu ♀ (1989)
T002C1 Rocky ♂ (2002)
T002C3 Lucy ♀ (2011)
T002C5 (2020)
T075B Pebbles ♀ (1995)
T075B2 Jasper ♀ (2015)
T075B3 Rubble ♂ (2017)
T075B4 (2021)
We ended up seeing some success in their search, as a hunt broke out and we saw it quickly finish with gulls swooping down to pick at the leftovers. Sometimes the gulls are the only way we know that a hunt happened, as orca are such efficient predators, especially with some more mature individuals like these whales. The gulls coming in lined up nicely with our hour with the whales, so we started to head back south to Nanaimo.
Along the way, we spotted another set of blows in the distance, this time belonging to humpback whales! We got to spend some time with them feeding in the area. When they are doing feeding dives, we will often get them raising their tail flukes for their deeper dives, making identification much easier. We quickly matched these whales as Seabird (BCX1774) and Bullet (BCX1658) travelling together. Watching these two moving together was an amazing sight, as these 17-meter-long animals moved with grace, their movements nearly synchronized as they surfaced, breathed, and dived below the surface. Without making much noise this level of coordination between the whales is always interesting to see and ponder how, and why, they do it.
These two whales were feeding just north of Snake Island, a common seal haul-out site, so we decided to take a peak over there at the Harbour Seals and were thrilled to watch them lounging on the rocks, watching curiously as we floated by.
Our final destination before returning to the Harbour was alongside Gabriola Island, getting to see the towering sandstone cliffs which are home to many creatures, such as cormorants, gulls, seastars, barnacles, and much more below the surface.
It was a great end to our trip and we were happy to return to the harbour. The Marine Naturalists Des Poier and Hayleigh Hilbert got some amazing photos throughout the trip, which can all be viewed below!
T075B Pebbles and T002C3 Lucy. Photo by Des Poier.
T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Des Poier.
T002C1 Rocky. Photo by Des Poier.
T002C1 Rocky and some smaller members swimming away. Photo by Des Poier.
T002C3 Lucy beside T075B Pebbles. Photo by Des Poier.
T075B4 with all their new scars. Photo by Des Poier.
Seabird’s fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
Bullet’s dorsal. Photo by Des Poier.
Bullet’s dorsal slicing through the waves. Photo by Des Poier.
Seabird’s dorsal. Photo by Des Poier.
Seabird diving - she has distinct scarring on her right fluke edge, which can be seen from the top here. Photo by Des Poier.
Bullet’s fluke. Photo by Des Poier.
Harbour Seals spending time on the rocks. Photo by Des Poier.
You can see some of the Harbour Seals are curious about us! Photo by Des Poier.
A nice pebble beach for the Harbour Seals to spend time on. Photo by Des Poier.
Cormorants at the Gabriola Bluffs. Photo by Des Poier.
The young cormorants aren't so easy to tell from the adults anymore! Photo by Des Poier.
Some Ochre Stars and a Sea Urchin hanging on at low tide. Photo by Des Poier.
Did you know sea stars group together like this to help avoid drying out as the tide goes down? Photo by Des Poier.