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!
Juvenile gull in flight
Gull wing stretch!
Surfacing with a scrap of Steller Sea Lion (Eumatopias jubatus) - you can see it on the right side of the whale's head
