April 12, 2014: Lingering Whale Blows

365 Project, Day 168

Here is my day 168 submission to my 365Project



Ahh...nothing like a bit of whale watching on a beautiful sunny day with flat seas! This afternoon I worked for Great Pacific Adventures as marine naturalist on the King Salmon. It was a great afternoon and we had a great group of guests onboard.

On today's trip we got to see two Bigg's (previously known as Transient) mammal eating killer whales (Orcinus orca) who have been dubbed the 'twins'. I have not been working consistently on the water here lately so was not completely aware of the latest sightings information. I don't mind this though as I like the challenge of trying to identify the animals myself. Today was a bit more challenging though and it took myself and the other naturalist some time to figure out we were actually watching two animals...these two male Bigg's killer whales both look very similar and it was not until just near the end of our observation that they both surfaced at the same time and we could confidently say we were seeing two different animals, T77A and T49C. 

This observation of the 'twins' occurred just outside Friday Harbour, in San Juan Channel off the east coast of San Juan Island, Washington State. My favourite thing about today's sighting was the effect of the backlit sun shining through the whales' blows when they surfaced. The air was so still that the blows hung in the air and slowly spread out above the animals. The effect was emphasized due to the dark background of the trees on shore and the backlighting due to the angle we were viewing them. Normally, such backlighting can be difficult to photograph the whales but this time it created a cool affect!

September 3, 2013: Transient Killer Whale Mom And Calf

365 Project, Day 70

Here is my day seventy submission to my 365Project:

Although I'm now home from Angola (after almost 2 days of travel!) I just had to get back on the water to see more whales. Luckily for me my former employer, Five Star Charters, had space on their afternoon trip for me to join them. 

There were multiple groups of Transient/Biggs (mammal eating) killer whales (Orcinus orca) around this afternoon including one group, the T60s, who had actually swam into the entrance of the Victoria Harbour and then continued on along the breakwater!

The groups we spent most of our time observing were a few kilometers south of Victoria and it was, as always, so interesting to watch as they were foraging and eating. Based on some of the scraps we observed they fed on at least one Steller sea lion (Eumatopias jubatus, see photo below)! The animals were members of the T20 and T90 transient groups (you can see these groups in the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Transient catalogue here). 

It was a gorgeous afternoon on the water as we sat quietly with our engines off observing them hunting and feeding. It was also incredibly entertaining watching the many gulls hovering and above the whales waiting for scraps!

    Note: this photo (and subsequent photos), was taken following recommended whale watch guidelines,
using a telephoto zoom lens and then cropped in!

Fun fact of the day:
In the thirty plus years since Mike Bigg started killer whale research in the Pacific Northwest Resident (fish eating) and Transient/Bigg's (mammal eating) killer whales have never been known to migrate into a group of one or the other. The two 'eco-types' differ in diet, vocalization, habitat range, morphology (shape of dorsal fin, etc.), pigmentation (such as saddle and eye patch) and genetics.

Here are some more photos from a lovely afternoon on the water with Five Star Charters:

This fisherman just had a very close pass with the T60s! Fortunately for him they aren't looking for the same prey because they hunt seals (his competition!) over salmon :)

  T60s cruising just off Dallas Road, Victoria

    T60C snooping around the rocks off Dallas Road, Victoria (and the person onshore got a great view!)

   T21 and T20 with a container ship in the background

Members of the T90s with feeding (and gulls looking for scraps)

T20's curled tail fluke - mature male killer whale's flukes have this curl to them

    T20s and T90s feeding (and gulls looking for scraps)

    Tail diving Transient (and gulls looking for scraps)

    Members of the T90s

    T20 (a male estimated to be born at least in 1963)

    T20

    Member of the T90s

    Members of the T90s (T90 and T90B)

 Surfacing with a scrap of Steller Sea Lion (Eumatopias jubatus) - you can see it on the right side of the whale's head

    T20

    Tail dive

    T90C and mom T90

    T20

    T90C doing a little leap of joy while feeding with gulls looking for scraps from overhead

Luckily for the Steller sea lion (Eumatopias jubatus), in the above two photos, he didn't get in the path of the T20 and T90 Transient/Bigg's killer whales!

    Rainbow over Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

    Steller sea lions at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve 

    Juvenile gull in flight

Boys will be boys...male California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve ;)

Gull wing stretch!

  The beautiful afternoon light and fog at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve - not a common sight here but we've been seeing them more and more in recent years

 Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with the Olympic Mountains in the background

Red-necked phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) cruising over the   gorgeous, glassy water

AUGUST 8, 2009 AFTERNOON T100s and T101s, harbour porpoise and humpback whales in the Strait of Juan De Fuca

Departure time: 1354

Vessel: Five Star Charter's Fastcat

Sighting #1: 'Transient' mammal eating killer whales (Orcinus orca)

Time: 1445
Start location: in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, south of Becher Bay, Vancouver Island
End location: 2 miles southwest of Becher Bay
Behaviour: tight and travelling/foraging while heading in a southwesterly direction

Cool killer whale fact: An adult killer whale consumes 100-300 pounds of food a day, depending on size and energy needs. That is approximately 1 - 2 harbour seals per day per adult Transient killer whale.

Links

DFO Transient killer whale photo ID catalogue
Center for Whale Research killer whale fact page and photo ID
Orcasound online hydrophone network
Orca Sightings Network Transient Fact page

American Cetacean Society killer whale fact sheet

T102, a 25 year old male "Transient" killer whale

Harbour porpoise surfacing very near the group of Transients...potential prey!

Sighting #2: Harbour porpoise (Balaenopter acutorostrata)

Time: 1457
Location: In the Strait of Juan De Fuca, south of Victoria, Vancouver Island

Behaviour: milling

Cool harbour porpoise fact: harbour porpoise are one of the smallest of the oceanic cetaceans, the harbor porpoise is shy and elusive

Links

American Cetacean Society harbour porpoise fact sheet

Fisheries and Oceans Canada SARA porpoise info

Above 3 photos: members of T100s and T101s travelling in the Strait of Juan De Fuca

Sighting #3: Humpback whales (Balaenopter acutorostrata)

Time: 1527
Location: In the Strait of Juan De Fuca, south of Victoria, Vancouver Island

Behaviour: probably foraging, no direction

Links

American Cetacean Society humpback whale fact sheet

Center for Whale Research online humpback catalogue of humpbacks seen in the Salish Sea

Department of Fisheries and Oceans humpback catalogue

Above 2 photos: two humpback whales travelling together

going down for a long dive...

And the second humpback diving!

Tail flukes of the two humpback whales...the markings on the underside can be used to recognize individual humpback whales