Tag Archives: Whale Watching

Killer Whale?

Underwater orcaSitting and waiting is often one of the best strategy during a whale-watching safari. Orcas like their cousin dolphins are curious and will often approach a boat if it is stationary and quite.  This orca is on its side looking at the boat as it passes by if it weren’t its dorsal fin would be visible above the surface. Not an every day occurrence but often enough to get good pictures.

 

Blackfish in green water

Orca and glacial waterBlackfish, aka Orca, or more commonly, killer whale – a creature that inspires awe in BC boaters. “Blackfish” is what the coastal Kwakwaka’wakw band (First Nation’s peoples) the original inhabitants of the Northern Vancouver Island area in British Columbia called the orca.  In fact one area most frequented by the orca is known as Blackfish Sound.  However, this photo was taken in Knight Inlet as indicated by the colour of the water. Knight Inlet is fed by fresh glacial water and this “floats” on the salt water.  The rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion. Those rock particles or glacial milk refract the green spectrum of the sun’s light so it appears green.

 

Orca Tail Slapping

Tail slapping or lob tailing creates loud sounds above water and under water as well as providing a dramatic photo opportunity. It is said that orca may do this to relieve an itch, as their outer skin layer is continually sloughed as they swim. The growth of killer whale epidermal (skin) cells is about 290 times faster than that of a human forearm. Studies also suggest that killer whales are curious, with great tendency to “play” and to manipulate objects.  The killer whales in our viewing area, the Johnstone Strait, rub their bodies along the pebbly bottoms of shallow bays or “rubbing beaches” located in the Robson Bight. It is assumed they do it for tactile stimulation, or it may help remove external parasites and their outer skin. The reason is secondary the sight is s spectacular.

tail slapping killer whale
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Humpback whale at lunch

Humpback WhaleHumpback whale close upOn whale watching tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge we spend the day in the area of Johnstone Straits.  These pictures were taken at Bold Head in Blackfish Sound about a fifteen-minute boat ride from Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island. I remember this day well as I normally take our guests to Bold Head and we tie up in the kelp bed to have our picnic lunch as it is a quite area frequented by humpback whales most of time several hundred meters (yards) away. However on this day in August one humpback came to visit us and played in the kelp. The first photo gives an idea of how close it came to the boat the second even closer.  No the second photo is not a blow up of the first because if you enlarge the second you will see a harbour seal’s head in the background.  Humpback whales often play in kelp beds and I believe the reason that this one came so close is because we were sitting quietly, motor shut off, and eating lunch. There were no other boats in the area and after the whale came close we were very quite in the boat and no one hit the side of the boat or made noise moving about as these noises are easily transferred through the water.  We had more than a thirty-minute visit.

 

The Four Austrians 9 of 11

Humpback whalesSea lionsThe whale watching safari day requires a fifty-minute boat ride to the area of Johnstone Strait adjacent to Vancouver Island. Wildlife viewed normally includes black bear and eagles on the way to the Strait’s and seals, Steller sea lions, harbour porpoise, dall’s porpoise, dolphins, resident killer whales (orca), minke whales and humpback whales while in the viewing area.  Guest’s interests vary but humpback whales such as the mother and calf shown as well as the bull Steller sea lions are always favourites.  The whales spend the summer feeding in the area and it is common to see eight or more whales in a day feeding on the herring.  The Steller sea lion are more abundant in the early spring and fall as they pass through the area between California and Alaska, however for the past four years a couple of dozen sea lion have made this area their permanent summer residence.

Northern Resident Orca Identification

killer whale pod
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If you have the time to open another browser click here

Killer Whales of the Northern Resident Community

northenresidentorcas.blogspot.com// you will be in a website which identifies all the orca that we observe each summer.  The map area in red shows the area frequented by the northern resident orca and this is basically the area we cover when we go on our whale-watching safari. If you click on  “A1 pod – A30 matriline” and scroll down until you come to “A72 Bend” if you look closely you will discover that this one of the orca in the photo. Some great video of the orca the orca is provided the second one has sound.

Orca while whale watching

Resident OrcaResident male orca

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The resident orcas arrive in the area adjacent to the East Coast of Vancouver Island in the Johnstone Strait normally by the start of July and remain in the area through October.  The residents are the salmon eating orca. The transient orca, mammal eaters, is in the are all year but spend much of their time is the inlets away from much of the marine traffic. R. W. Baird says “Membership in each (group) begins at birth and cultural bonds and identity continue throughout life. Residents and transients differ in diet, vocal traditions, habitat range, morphology (shape of dorsal fin, etc.), pigmentation patterns (such as the eye patch) and genetically. Though they cross paths routinely throughout the inland waters of BC and Washington State, the two forms are becoming, or by some accounts are already, separate species. DNA work indicates that they have not interbred for at minimum one hundred thousand years.” This great photos provided by Marc and Solange Edouard from France are of two female resident orcas and a lone male.

 

Orca in a rest line or sleeping

Orca pod resting
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The website “eHow” provides the best explanation of “How Do Killer Whales Sleep?”“Like dolphins, killer whales are voluntary breathers, meaning their breathing is not automatic like it is for humans. Instead, they must consciously rise to the surface and breathe. This makes sleeping for them much different than it is for other animals. Studies on dolphins and beluga whales have shown that they sleep by shutting down only one hemisphere of the brain at a time, thereby allowing them to both rest and have control over their breathing. It is thought that killer whales, being closely related to dolphins, do the same thing. Resting behaviors differ depending on whether the killer whale is by itself or part of a pod. If it is alone, it will rest by staying near the surface, with dorsal fin, blowhole and part of the head out of the water. Usually this only lasts for a few minutes at a time, but there have been reports of killer whales resting this way for up to eight hours.Killer whales in pods sleep differently. The pod will form a tight circle, and their breathing and movements will synchronize. They take several breaths at the surface, and then submerge for a period of time before surfacing again. The time spent submerged increases as the “sleep” becomes deeper, and they may take up to ten breaths near the surface before submerging for as long as ten minutes. Pods resting like this will avoid boats and contact with other animals during this process. It is thought that this kind of group resting may strengthen the animals’ bond and cohesiveness as a unit.”

Humpback whale tail identification

Humpback WhaleHunpback whaleHumoback whale fluke

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 In 2008 the number of humpback whales in the North Pacific was estimated at just less than 20,000. This number is a far cry from the scant 1,400 humpback whales estimated in the North Pacific Ocean at the end of commercial whaling in 1966. Researchers are able to identify humpback whales by photographing and cataloguing pictures of the animals’ tail, or fluke, because the pigmentation patterns on the fluke act like a fingerprint and are unique to each animal. This sequence of photographs by Marc and Solange from France are exceptional in that they show three photos of the same whale diving (note the beach behind the tail) as well as the underside that would be used for identification.  These photos were taken in Blackfish Sound near Telegraph Cove BC on Vancouver Island.

 

 

Classic orca photo

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The whale / orca watching safari day from Grizzly Bear Lodge start with a fifty minute boat ride from the lodge to the area of Johnstone Strait.  Along the way we search the shore for black bears, eagles and anything else that moves.  Once we are in the Strait’s area or eyes turn to the water for marine wildlife such as seals, sea lions, dall’s porpoise, white-sided dolphins, minkie whales, humpback whales and of course killer whales or orca. The resident or salmon eating orca we normally see in this area travel in family pods of ten to twenty members. The pods are dominated by the “mother” (oldest female) making them matriarchal however it is older males (sons stay with their mother all their life) that tend to attract most of the picture taking.