Tag Archives: Orca

Killer Whales 1 of 2

Large male orca

Grizzly Bear Lodge’s whale watching safari trips travel to the waters of Johnstone Strait, between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia.  The orca / killer whales arrives in the area by late June or early July and remains until late October.  These resident salmon eating orca travel in pods and are curious, as most dolphins.  They have been known to detour from their normal path of travel to inspect boats and whale watchers passing on all sides of the boat which makes it hard to choose the best chance for a picture. This large male may have come close for another reason. See tomorrow’s post

 

 

Killer Whales – aka Orca

Killer whales

The orcas in our whale watching area arrive in late June and stay through mid-October. The most common orca / killer whales in the area are the residents. Residents or fish eating orca live in large family groups called pods, with multiple pods making up a population or community. The pods consist of multiple related matrilines, with each matriline often containing 3 or more generations. Each pod is led by the head female or matriach, as orca are a female dominated species. The matriarch tends to be the oldest female in the extended family. Her experience and knowledge guides the pod, and the matriach teaches younger whales about everything from parenting skills, feeding tactics, and navigation through the vast territories that they cover. Marc & Solange and family from France provided the photo and I know enjoyed their time with the orca.

 

 

Orca too close for the camera

Orca Very CloseWhale watching from Grizzly Bear Lodge takes place in the area of Johnstone Strait where orcas come in the summer to feed on the salmon. The Orca normally arrive in late June and stay in the area until mid-October. In the first part of June it is common to view transient orcas which feed on the local marine mammals. This photo demonstrates that sometime the lens on the camera is too large or that the orca is just too close.

Killer Whales Visit

Orca coming close

As with most wildlife viewing the best approach is often to sit and wait. On this particular whale watching tour from Grizzly Bear Lodge we arrived at the area of Johnstone Strait to start looking for orca and immediately located a pod of orca traveling along the shore. We stopped our boat, got out the cameras and let the orca come to us. As a guide for the lodge this is the best way to start a days trip and after some time with the orca we went on to watch stellar sealions, humpback whales lunge feeding, harbour seals, eagles and a few dall’s porpoise. All in all a full day.

 

 

Orca passing behind boat

Orca PassingThe northern resident (fish eating) orca in our whale watching area number more than two hundred and fifty individuals. This community consists of 3 clans (A, G and R) and numerous pods within each clan. The individual pods seem to contain less than a dozen members but will often join together to travel in larger groups. The killer whales viewed behind our boat were part of a larger group that was in front. It is best to avoid being in the middle of the group of orca but it is not possible to control their action as pods split off to travel alone.

 

 

 

Orca breaching

Orca BreachingThe classic photograph for an orca is breaching. All of the books on marine mammals have numerous pictures of killer whales and most of them are breaching. I would assume that the photographers have spent hundreds of hours on the water and countless pictures of splashed. Guest coming to Grizzly Bear Lodge expect that this will be the case when they go on a whale watching safari to the whale watching area in Johnstone Strait. The truth of the matter is that although we do see breaching orca on a reasonably regular basis it is not easy to get a photo especially a good photo. For some reason orca do not announce their intention to breach and do not  repeated breaches so you can be prepared to get that clear focus.

 

 

Ideal orca photo

Wikipedia offers a good explanation of spyhopping:  “When spyhopping, the whale rises and holds position partially out of the water, often exposing its entire rostrum and head, and is visually akin to a human treading water. Spyhopping is controlled and slow, and can last for minutes at a time if the whale is sufficiently inquisitive about whatever (or whomever) it is viewing.

Generally, the whale does not appear to swim to maintain its “elevated” position while spyhopping, instead relying on exceptional buoyancy control and positioning with pectoral fins. Typically the whale’s eyes will be slightly above or below the surface of the water, enabling it to see whatever is nearby on the surface.

Spyhopping often occurs during a “mugging” situation, where the focus of a whale’s attention is on a boat rather than on other nearby whales. Spyhopping among orcas may be to view prey species. For this a spyhop may be more useful than a breach, because the view is held steady for a longer period of time.”

 

 

The bad and the good of wildlife viewing

 

Like much success in life it all comes down to timing and the same applies to a good wildlife photograph. Grizzly bears are easier for the obvious reason that they are always visible on land and once you find them they are there for a while. On a whale watching tour once you find the marine mammals they are not always available for a photograph. A breaching humpback or killer whale is especially difficult as they do not announce their intent and often the result is the first photo posted. The second posting is the result of preparing to take one photo when another occurs. Luck!