September 2, 2024, 3:30 pm - Northern Residents, Biggs, and Humpback, is that a triple species day?

When we left the dock for the morning tour, we had no idea the great surprise that was in store for us. The idea was to head north in search of the pod of Biggs Orca that we had been watching in the morning, but when we got to where we suspected their travels may have taken them, we were greeted by a different set of fins. They were much more curved at the top, they had slightly more slanted eye patches, and…is that an open saddle patch? These were residents, but we quickly identified them as Northern Residents, more specifically, the A42s and A94 travelling together. That means that the following 8 whales were present:

A42 Sonoa/Holly/Uma ♀ (1980)
A79 Current ♀ (2004)
A119 Venture ♂ (2018)
A135 ♂ (2023)
A88 Chameleon ♀ (2008)
A103 Albion (2013)
A114 Ashlar ♀ (2017)

A94 Mystery ♂ (2009)

Orca here in BC can be complicated, given all the different ecotypes, and the subpopulations within those, so we don’t blame you if you are confused, thinking to yourself… “I thought your big thing was that you don’t watch Resident Orca?” In some ways you would be right, as the population of resident whales in our area, the Southern Resident Orca (SRKW) we won’t watch. Since the SRKW are critically endangered, with only 74 of them left in their entire population, we won’t watch them since research suggests that the presence of vessels may be causing negative impacts on their ability to forage, since they are more reliant on echolocation to find their food and have to have more coordinated movements to catch their fish. On the other hand, the Northern Resident Orca (NRKW) are a happy and healthy population with over 300 individuals. With overlap in range and similar diets, it makes you wonder why one is suffering so much while the other grows. But lots of research is being done to try and answer that question.

We were happy to ID these whales as NRKW though, since we could stay and watch them travelling through the water. Although less active at the surface than their southern counterparts, we still were treated to some activity while watching them today. We saw some spy hopping, tail slapping, and other social activity from these whales as we watched them. It was a lot of fun!

We also found a couple of humpbacks during our search for the orca, including Scoop (BCX0870), Dolphin (HW-MN0510718), and another mystery whale that we only got dorsal fin photos of. We currently don’t have an ID for that whale, but if we figure it out we will update it here! These humpbacks were on a mission, perhaps off-put by the sounds of orca in the area, travelling quickly through the water with only a few deeper dives beneath the surface.

Finally, as another surprise, on the way home we came across another pod of orca, but still not the original ones we were searching for! These whales were the T049As who we caught hunting at sunset. The T049As are the following whales:

T049A Nan ♀ (1986)
T049A3 Nat ♂ (2011)
T049A4 Neptune ♂ (2014)
T049A5 Nebula ♀ (2017)
T049A6 (2022) Nicknamed Charlie II

We know these whales were hunting quite easily since they were tossing the seal clear out of the water! in the photos of the whales, you will be able to see a clear difference between the NRKWs that we saw today and the Biggs orca. Not only are the dorsal fins different shapes, but the eye patches are different, and the saddle patches will look distinct as well. One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a Biggs orca and a resident orca is if there is an open saddle patch present. That is what it’s called when there is a dark streak through the middle of the patch as seen on A42 Sonora’s saddle patches below. See if you can tell which population of whale you are looking at without looking at the caption first!

Since the sun was setting, we returned to the dock quicky after spending some time with the hunting T049As. During the tour, the onboard Marine Naturalists Cheyenne Brewster and Desarae Poier captured some amazing photos which are included below!

A88 Chameleon next to A94 Mystery. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A great look at A94 Mystery. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A tail beside another's eye patch. (NRKW) Photo by Desarae Poier.

A135 peaking above the water. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A94 Mystery with A119 Venture surfacing just in front of him. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A rare look at the little teeth of the orca, we believe this is T119 Venture. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Someone's "Sea Snake" is out. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A94 Mystery with someone's tail draped on him. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A94 Mystery and the mystery tail. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A lovely photo of A94 Mystery in the sunset colours. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Someone spy hopping beside A79 Current. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Another Spy Hop. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A42 Sonora and A79 Current swimming side by side, with A94 Mystery just ahead of them. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A79 Current surfacing with another spy hopping beside them. Photo by Desarae Poier.

The A42s surfacing together. Photo by Desarae Poier.

An upside-down tail flick. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Another A42 family photo. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Spy Hop! (NRKW) Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A42 Sonora herself. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A94 Mystery. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

A119 Venture beside A94 Mystery. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Scoop's tail. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Scoop going for a dive. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

"dolphin" going for a dive. Photo by Desarae Poier.

A nice high fluke from "dolphin". Photo by Desarae Poier.

The temporary nickname comes from the strange shape to the scar on the left fluke. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Our mystery humpback whale. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

T049A Nan surfacing with some eel grass draped on her dorsal fin. Photo by Desarae Poier.

T049A3 Nat with T049A6 Charlie surfacing beside him. Photo by Desarae Poier.

This seal got a whack! Photo by Desarae Poier.

We can tell by the tail that this was done by a female, or a younger whale, not Nat. Photo by Desarae Poier.

Another attempted hit. Photo by Desarae Poier.

T049A Nan. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Happy Whale Watchers on the open boat. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Sunset over the island. Photo by Desarae Poier.