Tag Archives: Whale Watching

We know what is happening not sure why it is happening. The “Whale Trust website” says the tail lob or tail slap occurs when the whale extends its tail fluke above the water and slaps it forcibly down on the surface. This can be “right way up”, slapping the underneath side of the flukes on the water, or the reverse, with the whale belly-up slapping the dorsal (top-side) of the flukes on the water. This often, but not always, occurs many (35+) times in a row. As with the other behaviors, the meaning behind this behavior is unknown, but it has been speculated that it may be a way to ward off other whales, or to the contrary, to invite other whales to join a group. The explanation seems clear as mud but is sure exciting to watch.  This photo by Gary Wilson was from the area of Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island.

Tim O’Neil does it again, an excellent photo of A72.  Resident and transient orca along the coast of British Columbia have photo identification catalogues that make use their unique dorsal fin and saddle patch to identified each orca. Some ID’s are easy and this is one of the easy ones.  The notch in the front of this female’s fin identifies her, as A72 she was born in 1999 daughter of A50 born is 1964. A50 is daughter of the pod’s matriarch A30 born in 1947. The Orcas live in a matriarchal community. The females live much longer than the males, and therefor have more valuable experiences, which make them the dominant.  The males stay with their mother all their life and breed outside their pod. The pods are named after the dominant female in this case A30 and they are members of the northern resident orcas which spend the summer in the waters north of Campbell River close to Telegraph Cove in the Johnstone Strait. 

No this is not a baby orca it is a Dall’s Porpoise often called a “false orca”.  To be honest it is the only picture of a dall’s porpoise that I have in my blog collection and I have allot of photos from allot of guests and Tim O’Neil from the UK is the only one that I know that has a decent photo.  It took quit a bit of maneuvering in the boat and much patience on Tim’s part to get this picture.  As you can see it from the photo it was a perfect day whale watching in the area of Johnstone Strait near Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island.   A dall’s porpoise lays claim to being the fastest marine mammal. “Some marine mammals can swim at relatively high speeds. Sea lions swim up to 35 kph and orcas can reach 50 kph. The fastest marine mammal, however, is the common dolphin, which reaches speeds up to 64 kph.” quote from  http://marinebio.org

“Humpback whales often feed by lunging – moving quickly toward a school of prey with their mouths wide open, then closing their mouths and filtering the salt water out using their baleen. Researchers at the University of British Columbia learned from tagging humpback whales that during these lunges, the whale drops its lower jaw, creating drag that helps fill its mouth with prey and water. The effective, but energetically-costly feeding technique explains the relatively short dives humpback take while feeding.” a quote from Jennifer Kennedy, About.com Guide.  Gary Wilson from Australia captures this feeding whale in Blackfish Sound not far from Vancouver Island’s Telegraph Cove.  On normal whale watching safari day with an incoming tide to bring the herring into the viewing area we will see several humpbacks feeding.